The Nigerian Football Federation is confident that Emmanuel Dennis will travel to the African Cup of Nations next month, despite comments from Watford boss Claudio Ranieri.

A dispute concerning the date that the Hornets were notified of his inclusion in the squad has given the club reason to believe that they might be able to prevent his inclusion in the competition.

This came to light after Tuesday's home defeat to West Ham United, when the head coach said: "I’m not so sure I’ll miss [Dennis] now, I don’t know if he goes.

"The national team has a time to send their precall, they don’t respect the days and I want to see very well.

"I know the email arrived late and I want to know everything. The national team has a time, during this time they have to send the precall, if they don’t send the precall, we can choose."

It is understandable that the club are keen to prevent Dennis from going to the tournament, after he scored his eighth goal of the season in the defeat against the Hammers.

His participation would see him miss important games against relegation rivals Newcastle and Norwich.

However, the NFF were understood to be confused about Ranieri's comments last night and sources closely situated explained to the Watford Observer that, as far as they are concerned, everything was done according to protocol.

It is their belief that clubs need to be notified five days in advance of individual matches and ten days in advance of a tournament, meaning they could have waited until December 30 to announce the striker's inclusion and it would have still been above board.

A solution is still currently being discussed between the club and the NFF but the situation is expected to be resolved in the coming days, with club sources saying they are keen not to show any disrespect to national sides.