Anderlecht’s Moussa Ndiaye is set for a World Cup debut after being called into Senegal’s squad on the eve of their first match.
The 20-year-old left back has been called up as Sadio Mane’s replacement after it was confirmed that the star forward would miss the World Cup through injury.
Ndiaye has been part of Senegal’s Under-20 & Under-23 teams but has never been called into the senior national team.
The decision was taken to bring in a youngster as a replacement who can earn exposure and also ensure the team has enough cover should they get another injury, BBC Sport Africa understands.
The technical bench had earlier mulled over the idea of not replacing the African Footballer of the Year in the team.
Senegal begin their World Cup campaign against the Netherlands on Monday, before playing hosts Qatar and then ending their Group A campaign against Ecuador.
The African champions will be hoping to avoid the pitfalls of the 2018 tournament which saw them exit at the group stage as a result of fair play rules after finishing level with Japan on four points.
