Allan Nyom free to return to West Brom

Albion defender Allan Nyom is free to return to club football this month after not being named in Cameroon’s Africa Cup of Nations squad.

The 28-year-old was one of seven players who informed the Cameroon FA last month that they did not want to go to the tournament in Gabon.

But head coach Hugo Broos reacted angrily and there was suggestion Cameroon would ask FIFA to suspend the players from club matches during the tournament, which runs from January 14 until February 5.

In a statement at the time, Broos said: “These players have put personal interest above those of the national team and the federation reserves the right to take action against the players in accordance with FIFA regulations.”

Though rarely enforced, those regulations can allow the game’s governing body to suspend players who refuse call-ups without good reason.

FIFA rules state: “A player who has been called up by his association for one of its representative teams is, unless otherwise agreed by the relevant association, not entitled to play for the club… during the period for which he has been released or should have been released.”

However, that row has now been defused by the players’ non-selection.

Nyom, who joined the Baggies in a £4million deadline day switch from Watford last summer, wants to stay at The Hawthorns in order to fight for his place in Tony Pulis’s team.