Manchester United will attempt to delay the departures of Bryan Mbeumo, Amad Diallo and Noussair Mazraoui to the Africa Cup of Nations.
Tournament regulations mean United should release the trio two weeks before the respective first games of Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Morocco.
That would mean releasing them around the Premier League encounter with Wolves at Molineux on 8 December.
Mazraoui’s Morocco host the tournament and play in the opening game against Comoros on 21 December.
Ivory Coast (Amad) and Cameroon (Mbeumo) both play their first matches on 24 December.
However, United are trying to push that back until at least after their following game against Bournemouth on 15 December.
The dates could be crucial as head coach Ruben Amorim says he expects Benjamin Sesko to have recovered from his knee injury around the same time as they are released.
Erik ten Hag kept goalkeeper Andre Onana back until the day before Cameroon’s first game in the competition two years ago.
“We have the rules for when we have to release the players [but] we are trying to have the players a bit longer.
“It is not just in our hands.
“We will see. We will try to arrange something with the federation.”
