Ghana defender, Abdul Rahman Baba, has been ruled out of the 2022 World Cup play-off against Nigeria later this month.
Since mid-February, the Reading defender has been out of action after picking up a knee injury against Preston North End in the Championship.
According to the Reading boss, Paul Ince, the 27-year-old left-back is expected to be on the sidelines till next month, making him unavailable for the World Cup play-off.
“Rahman is two or three weeks away. Halilovic is maybe another week or so away. It’s tough because these players have been out a while, and we need to get them back up to scratch,” Ince said in a press conference ahead of this weekend’s match against Nottingham Forest.
Even though the technical team of the Black Stars are yet to announce the final squad for the upcoming crucial games, there are speculations in the local media concerning who replaces Rahman as many suggest Hearts of Oak left-back Dennis Nkrumah-Korsah, who has been impressive since joining the club from Ebusua Dwarfs.
The two-legged games will take place on Friday, 25 March 2022, at the Cape Coast Stadium in Ghana and on Tuesday, 29 March 2022, at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja.
Rahman was part of the Black Stars team at the last Afcon in Cameroon and has made a total appearance of 24 in the ongoing English Skybet Championship for Reading.