Watford has refuted accusations from the Senegalese football federation (FSF) on Sunday of preventing forward Ismaila Sarr from playing in the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations.

The FSF claimed Watford had displayed “disrespectful, pernicious and discriminatory behavior”.

However, Watford believes Sarr, who is currently sidelined with a knee injury and has not featured for the Premier League club since November, is not yet fit enough to feature at the tournament in Cameroon later this month.

The Hornets handling of Sarr’s fellow forward, Emmanuel Dennis has also been controversial, with Nigeria saying the English club were baring fangs when refusing to release him for international duty.