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Brighton’s Tariq Lamptey is also a target for the Black Stars, but the GFA official claims media reports are making it difficult
Ghana Football Association (GFA) Executive Council Member George Amoakoh believes that reports of the use of black magic, popularly known as ‘juju’, are hampering efforts to attract Ghanaian players to the diaspora to represent the Black Stars.
New coach of the four-time African champions, CK Akonnor, has set his sights on expanding the national talent pool with players of Ghanaian descent abroad, having identified Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah and Brighton and Hove Albion defender Tariq Lamptey enters a list of goals.
West Africans have struggled to lift a trophy since 1982 and have been turned away by most Ghanaian players abroad when asked to change nationality.
“There are many perceptions of how Ghanaian footballers play,” Amoakoh said. Nhyira FM.
“Destructive tendencies in the game, those who deliberately want to hurt you and cut short your career.
“Then the usual endless speculation, especially about Ghanaian players using ‘juju’ to play soccer.
“Even those [players in the diaspora] who grew up here and go to Europe to play there, most of them, because of ‘juju’, they don’t want to play for Ghana.
“It is a very big problem that we are trying to solve and correct.”
Ghana has already made contact with Nketiah and Lamptey, both born to Ghanaian parents in England and currently international youth from their country of birth.
The latter made headlines on Monday with an excellent performance for Brighton in their 2020-21 Premier League opener against Chelsea.
“In fact, when I was watching [Lamptey] On television, the first thing I did was call a couple of people and it was clear that he would be a good player for our national team, the Black Stars, ”added Amoakoh.
“It will not be easy [to get him to switch international allegiance]. The department of the national team is making serious efforts to get the parents and the child to agree to play for Ghana.
“But it will not be easy. I don’t want to sound impossible, but it won’t be easy.
“Most of [Ghanaian] European born players, if you want to attract them to come and play for Ghana, it is very difficult. For the most part, they aspire to play in their country of birth or in the host countries. Even their parents don’t choose to have their children play for Ghana. “
In 2012, then-Ghana coach Goran Stevanovic partly blamed the use of black magic by Ghanaian players as the reason for the disappointing Black Stars campaign at the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.
