David Notoane may have to alter his plans for the Tokyo Olympic Games with word that there's doubts over the availability of one of the European-based players.
The coach this week named Gift Links in his 25-man squad for the trip to the UAE early next month, where they have matches against Brazil, Korea and Argentina lined up between June 5-11 in preparation for the Olympics.
While Notoane is expected to have Links, who plays for AGF in Denmark, the Siya crew understands the attacker could miss out on being at the youth global showpiece in Japan in the middle of July.
Indications are that the Danish Super League could have an unusually early start for the 2021/22 season and it's understood the federation have penciled it for July 18, which overlaps with the date for the Olympics.
The fact that world governing football body FIFA have not included the tournament as part of their official calendar, clubs are not obligated to release players selected for event in Japan, which kicks off from July 22 until August 8.
AGF are then not expected to give Links that much time off to play at the Olympics, and that could be the case for at least two more of his Danish club teammates in Zachary Duncan and Alex Gersbach, who are part of the Australian squad.
Notoane will then have a tough decision to make and this could require lengthy talks with AGF if he is going to pick Links in his final team, having just only recently announced a 40-man preliminary squad to be trimmed later.
The UAE tournament, however, does fall under the FIFA calendar – so Links is available for to make that trip.
