Leicester City are plotting for life without their Ghanaian defensive midfielder Daniel Amartey during AFCON 2017 in January.
The defending EPL champions are reported to be in advanced negotiations to sign defensive midfielder Wilfred Ndidi in a £14million deal.
City are in talks with Belgian club Genk over the 19-year-old and hope to wrap up a deal ready for an announcement in the first week of the January transfer window reports the Leicester Mercury.
Amartey is expected to miss at most six games for Leicster during the competition and Claudio Ranieri is taking no chances with the state of his defensive midfield.
Nigerian international Ndidi would be a boost to Ranieri's options in midfield and in defence, with the teenager also able to fill in at centre-back or right-back, although it is likely he would be used to add some bite in the centre of the park.
Statistics suggest Ndidi would aptly fill the role vacated by N'Golo Kante, who departed for Chelsea in £32m transfer in the summer.
n this season's Europa League, no midfielder has made more interceptions per game than Ndidi (4.4), while the Nigerian comfortably tops the charts for tackles per match (6.8). In last season's Premier League, Kante made 4.2 interceptions and 4.7 tackles per game.
Ndidi has already made 28 appearances for Genk this season, including 11 in the Europa League, where he has also scored twice.
Turning 20 next month, Ndidi is playing in his third season in Belgium following a move from Nigerian club Nath Boys, while he has earned six senior caps for his country since making his debut in October 2015.