Real Tamale United (RTU) head coach, Shaibu Ibrahim Tanko, says his squad has the right quality to replace high-flying David Sandan Abagna.

Abagna was extended a maiden national team call-up by Milovan Rajevac ahead of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations to be held in Cameroon, joining the other home-based players who jetted off to Doha to begin preparations for the tournament.

In the absence of the attacking midfielder, RTU suffered a 2-1 defeat to Accra Lions in matchday 10 of the Ghana Premier League at the Sogakope Park on Monday.

In the loss to the Accra-based side, Abagna's absence looked to have taken its toll on the Premier League returnees but Tanko believes there are equally good players who are capable of filling the void created by the former AshantiGold star.

"As I said earlier, we have the men who will really stand for him," he said during his post-match interview.

"And indeed you saw it; even though his [Abagna] absence was felt, we were able to make sure people do not realise that he wasn't here."

In nine league games, Abagna has netted eight times for the Tamale-based side, leapfrogging national teammate, Maxwell Nii Abbey Quaye to the league top-scorers chart.