Birmingham are pleading with the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to leave Quincy Owusu-Abeyie out of next week's friendly against Tanzania.

The 22-year-old, who joined the English club last week, is being trained to regain his fitness after the summer break.

Coach Alex McLeish has now approached the GFA to excuse Owusu-Abeyie from the game in Arusha on August 20.

McLeish says the striker's exclusion from the friendly in Africa will help him settle at Birmingham ahead of his debut for the club.

"I have made contact with the Ghanaian Football Federation to ask if they can leave him out of this one so that we can get him totally fit, not just for Birmingham but for their World Cup qualifying campaign," says McLeish.

"We feel that he would benefit from not travelling next week. We are in discussions and I've had a good phone call with the secretary, but in the end it's the coach that makes the decision and we have to respect that."

The game in Arusha will be the first for new Ghana coach Milovan Rajevac.