Patrick Vieira has reportedly told Jordan Ayew he doesn't need to get back to Crystal Palace for their Premier League fixture this Sunday against Liverpool.
The Ghanaian winger was dumped out of the Africa Cup of Nations this week as the Black Stars failed to win a single group stage game in the tournament for the first time in their history.
Ayew played in all three matches but failed to find the back of the net as Ghana drew with Gabon and lost to both Morocco and Comoros.
The 30-year-old was initially thought to be heading back to south London this week to join the squad for the Liverpool game, but will now take time off before returning next week, according to LondonWorld.
Ayew has just one goal in 19 appearances for Palace this season but has been praised regularly by his manager Vieira for his workrate and defensive contributions in games.
During his absence at AFCON his spot in the team has been taken by 20-year-old Michael Olise, who has two goals and two assists to his name in his last three matches.
Olise is expected to start against Liverpool and will be hoping another good performance will help make it harder for Vieira to replace him with Ayew when the Ghanaian returns.
Speaking about the performances some of his younger players like Olise and Ebere Eze had been putting in of late, Vieira said: "Their job is to make it difficult for me and when you look at the way both of them played, I will have a difficult decision to make in the next couple of weeks.
“Michael’s performance shows the fantastic potential in the player, but at the same time he needs to keep developing himself.”
