Albert Adomah could miss five or six key Middlesbrough games if he is selected for Ghana’s African Cup of Nations squad.

The Black Stars are bidding to qualify for the biennial tournament, which gets underway in Morocco on January 17.

Managerless Ghana played the first leg of their play-off with Guinea in Casablanca last night, with the return taking place on Wednesday.

Adomah was not selected by caretaker boss Maxwell Konadu for the latest back-to-back qualifications games but if his impressive Boro form continues it is a fair bet he willl be recalled.

If Ghana do progress to the finals and the Boro winger is selected, he will have to link up with the squad at least a week before the tournament starts.

He could therefore be out of the picture for most of January and, potentially, the first two weeks of February.

The event is scheduled to end on February 8 and, despite enduring a poor World Cup campaign, Ghana will still be fancied to win through to the latter stages in Morocco.

Adomah, then, could theoretically miss Championship games against Reading (January 10), Huddersfield (Jan 17), Cardiff (Jan 24), Brentford (Jan 31), Charlton (February 7) and Blackpool (Feb 10).

That will be a concern for Boro head coach Aitor Karanka, who is a huge fan of Adomah. He said: “Albert is very important.

“He is very important because, like I said last season, he is a leader.

“He is a leader on the pitch and off the pitch and as a player he is the kind of player that when he is on the pitch you have a lot of options.

“He can play in a lot of positions and for this reason – as a person, as a player, as a leader – he is a very important player for us.”

Adomah, who was Boro’s top scorer last season with 12 goals, represented Ghana in their disastrous World Cup campaign in Brazil, making just one appearance as a second-half substitute against the United States in Natal.

The West African nation ultimately finished bottom of their group with an off -the-field row over payments between several players and the national governing body over-shadowing on-field matters.