Aston Villa forward Evann Guessand is one of two AFCON reserves for Ivory Coast.

Alongside Charleroi midfielder Parfait Guiagon, head coach Emerse Faé placed the 24-year-old on standby. He may receive a call-up if there are withdrawals from the Elephants’ 26-man squad.

The exciting Villa winger is one of several notable exclusions, including Sunderland’s Simon Adingra and former Arsenal prodigy Nicolas Pépé.

The Aston Villa goal scorer has featured 15 times for Ivory Coast since debuting in June 2024, scoring twice. He has been a consistent option for Faé either off the bench or in the starting line-up.

However, despite being a regular starter for Villa in the Europa League this season, he has struggled for minutes in the Premier League.

Faé has made it clear through his squad selection that he prioritises minutes on the pitch over name recognition and pedigree. We see this with the selection of Wilfried Zaha. Though Zaha now plays in the MLS, he has played almost every minute.

The Villa winger unfortunately has not played consistently enough this year. He also did not impress sufficiently in his time on international duty to make the guaranteed 26-man squad.

However, his time spent playing in the Europa League has earned him a spot as one of the Elephants’ reserves. He could still feature if any of the impressive Ivorian attackers become unavailable.

Guessand was born on the French-Mediterranean island of Corsica. He represented France up until the U19 level before choosing to represent Ivory Coast.

Coming through at Nice, he made his professional debut in a 2-0 Coupe de France victory over Fréjus Saint-Raphaël in January 2020. He hade his Ligue 1 debut seven months later.

In October 2020, he went on loan to Swiss Super League side Lausanne-Sport, and in 2022 he joined Ligue 1 side Nantes on loan. His most notable moment for the club came in the Europa League, where he scored a 93rd-minute winner against Olympiacos.

After two more years at Nice, Guessand signed for Premier League risers Aston Villa for over £30m. He made his league debut in a 1-0 defeat to Brentford 15 days after signing. He registered his first goal in a 2-1 defeat to Go Ahead Eagles in the Europa League.