Luton midfielder misses out on AFCON as he fails to make DR Congo squad

Luton midfielder Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu has missed out on the chance of representing his country at the Africa Cup of Nations after he wasn’t named in the DR Congo squad for the tournament.

The 29-year-old has made three appearances for the Leopards since his debut back in June 2021, although was included in the 1-0 friendly defeat to South Arica in September last year, but isn’t part of the 24-man squad named by head coach Sébastien Desabre. The Frenchman opted for six midfielders with West Bromwich Albion’s Grady Diangana and Watford’s Edo Kayembe among those included to face Morocco, Tanzania and Zambia, who are in the same group as DR Congo for the tournament staged in Ivory Coast.

It means that Mpanzu is now available for the Hatters this month, as boss Rob Edwards said: “We love having Pelly around, he’s really, really influential as you can hear around the place. So the more we’ve got him around, the better for us.”