Wolverhampton Wanderers boss Dave Jones lashed out at Senegal on Monday after Henri Camara had to delay his return to the embattled Premiership club to attend a reception for his defeated African Nations Cup team.
Jones wanted striker Camara back for training ahead of Tuesday's relegation battle against fellow strugglers Leeds United but Senegal, who were knocked out of the African Nations Cup by Tunisia in the quarter-finals on Saturday, insisted he take part in the civic reception in Dakar.
"It is unacceptable," said Jones. "We couldn't even get hold of them until late on Sunday night and we asked if we could get Henri back on a flight straight away but they said 'no.' He had to go to Dakar.
"So now he has to fly from Dakar instead of Tunis and will have to go via Paris which will take even longer. He won't leave until 11 o'clock on Monday night.
"I am sure if we had said he couldn't go then there would have been an almighty stink kicked up, but as it is, we're stopped from having our player back in plenty of time for an important game and there is nothing we can do."
Controversies over when European clubs should release players for the Nations Cup dominated the build-up to the tournament with many teams furious at losing their top stars for up to five weeks.
"We had no say in Henri going," added Jones.
"We asked if he could delay his departure so he could play in the FA Cup and thay said 'no.' He's been out there for a month and we have been paying his wages."