Derby County defender Ryan Nyambe has been called up by Namibia for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations tournament.
Ryan Nyambe has been an important player for Paul Warne since arriving at Pride Park on a free transfer in the summer.
The former Blackburn Rovers star has seamlessly slotted into the right-back berth and has played in all but three of Derby’s League One matches.
As such, the club gave supporters the perfect Christmas present by awarding his form with a new contract that expires in 2025.
Derby fans were been eager to see Nyambe commit his future to the club with the 26-year-old quickly establishing a rapport with supporters.
For the next month at least, though, the Rams will be without Nyambe as he competes for his country in the AFCON tournament.
What games could Ryan Nyambe miss for Derby?
While the group stages for Namibia ends on the 24th January, the tournament itself runs until 11th February, which is the date set for the final.
Namibia are in a group comprised of Mali, South Africa and Tunisia and the first of those games, against Tunisia, will take place on 16th January.
The top two teams of each group in the competition along with the four best third-placed teams will advance to the Round of 16 which gets underway on 27th January.
If they advance into the last 16, Nyambe could miss five matches in League One, including trips to Lincoln City and Reading.
However, if Namibia somehow go all the way to the final, he would miss an extra three games on top of that; Charlton (H), Shrewsbury (H) and Exeter (A).
Who will replace Ryan Nyambe at right back?
Warne is fortunate that he has a lot of cover in that area.
Joe Ward and Kane Wilson are both capable of playing in that position, but the former would need to step up his performance levels to successfully cover Nyambe’s absence.
In the 3-1 victory over Lincoln City in December, Ward had a terrible first half which saw him concede a penalty on the stroke of half-time, lose possession a whopping 24 times and not return onto the pitch in the second period.
The man who replaced him, Kane Wilson, made an instant impact at Pride Park and helped turn the game on its head with a superb goal and an assist.
Wilson is enjoying his role as a right winger which could mean Warne will bring in Ward for Nyambe for their upcoming League One fixtures against Fleetwood and Burton Albion.