2025 AFCON Qualifiers: Otto Addo drops out-of-favor RC Lens midfielder Salis Abdul Samed from Angola and Niger game

France-based midfielder Salis Abdul Samed has been excluded from Ghana's squad for the upcoming 2025 Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers against Angola and Niger.

Ghana coach Otto Addo on Thursday, August 29, 2024 announced a 26-man squad list for the games slated for next month at the Ghana Football Association headquarters in Accra.

The Black Stars will face Angola at the Baba Yara Stadium on September 5 before travelling to take on Niger on September 9.

Abdul Samed, who was recently declared surplus to requirements by the RC Lens technical team led by manager Will Still, and he has been training with the club's reserve side for the past weeks and has been dropped from the West African national team by the head coach.

The career of the 25-year-old midfield enforcer is ebbing at the French outfit, and they are looking forward to offloading him this summer.

Salis will now hope to quickly secure a move to admirers in order to bring his dwindling career back on track, given his vibrant age as a professional footballer.

He's so far been cap-tied 19 times by Ghana at the senior national team level, the Black Stars.

Salis Abdul Samed set for loan move from RC Lens this summer 

Given his torrid times, the man in charge of the Stade Bollaert-Delelis has said he has pushed the duo to the lower ranks as they are not part of his plans this term.

However, Stade Brestois, who are in the transfer market to bolster their midfield before the deadline day, has commenced discussions with RC Lens for the possible acquisition of the 24-year-old on loan for the 2024–25 season's campaign.

Ligue 1 duo FC Nantes and AS Saint-Étienne were reportedly optimistic of capturing the former Clermont Foot midfielder this summer.

Abdul Samed's current contract with RC Lens will expire in June 2028.

English Championship side Sunderland have joined the race to sign Ghanaian midfielder Salis Abdul Samed, a report from the French media has claimed.

Per French tabloid L'Equipe, the former English Premier League campaigners are set to capture the lanky enforcer on a loan deal as talks between his mother club and the English suitors are said to be "progressing well" ahead of the closure of the transfer window.