Injured Leicester star Schlupp out of Africa Cup of Nations

Jeffrey Schlupp started his career as a youth player at Leicester in 2005

Ghana coach Avram Grant has been forced to leave injured pair Jeffrey Schlupp and Majeed Waris out of his final squad for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.

Leicester City defender Schlupp, 22, will be out for three weeks, according to Ghana's Football Association.

Striker Waris, 23, is replaced by Norway-based forward Mahatma Otoo.

Crystal Palace striker Kwesi Appiah has been included, after scoring for the Black Stars in a warm up game in Portugal on Wednesday.

He had recently been on loan at Cambridge United.

He will be making his Nations Cup debut, along with Baba Rahman, Daniel Amartey, Frank Acheampong and David Accam.

Defender Samuel Inkoom is among those dropped from the squad for the tournament in Equatorial Guinea, which starts on 17 January.

Schlupp and Waris had been serious injury doubts but were included in Grant's provisional party in the hope they would recover.

Striker Asamoah Gyan will captain the squad once again and will shoulder much of the goal scoring responsibilities.

Ghana squad:

Goalkeepers: Razak Braimah (Mirandes, Spain), Fatau Dauda (AshGold) and Ernest Sowah (Don Bosco, DR Congo)

Defenders: Harrison Afful (Esperance, Tunisia), John Boye (Erciyesspor, Turkey), Jonathan Mensah (Evian, France), Awal Mohammed (Maritzburg, South Africa), Baba Rahman (Augsburg, Germany), Gyimah Edwin (Mpumalanga Black Aces, South Africa), Daniel Amartey, (FC Copenhagen, Denmark)

Midfielders: Rabiu Mohammed (Krasnodar, Russia), Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu (Udinese, Italy), Afriyie Acquah (Parma, Italy), Solomon Asante (T.P. Mazembe, DR Congo), Christian Atsu (Everton, England), Mubarak Wakaso (Celtic, Scotland), Andre Ayew (Olympique Marseille, France), Frank Acheampong (Anderlecht, Belgium), David Accam (Chicago Fire, USA)

Strikers: Jordan Ayew (Lorient, France), Mahatma Otoo (Songdal, Norway) Asamoah Gyan (Al Ain, UAE), Kwesi Appiah (Crystal Palace, England)