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Accra Hearts of Oak is considering freezing its excellent midfielder Benjamin Afutu for his refusal to extend his expiring contract, Ghanasoccernet.com may exclusively reveal.
The 24-year-old was initially removed from the club’s roster of players to be selected for Sunday’s Ghana Premier League game against Inter Allies.
That’s because it has refused to have talks with the management of the Accra-based giants about extending its contract that expires next month.
However, coach Edward Odoom recalled the talented player who joined training on Saturday morning before the away game against his rivals from the city.
That was because the former Karela United player was not included on his squad for the game on Friday.
But after talks between management and coaching staff, Afutu was called up to join training on Saturday and could be in contention for selection for the match.
The problem remains that the phobians have been unable to get Afutu to sit down to agree on the terms that will be proposed for the extension of his contract.
The midfielder’s contract expires in just four weeks and without a contract extension, Hearts will lose the player even before the first round is over.
Afutu will leave the club on a free transfer and compound the contract extension problems for phobians who have recently lost several players who refused to extend their contracts.
As such, the initial move to not include him in the team for the Inter Allies game shows that the Hearts are not interested in giving the player the platform to market themselves and then go a few days later to a rival team for free.
Coach Odoom’s move shows that Hearts could have made some progress in getting the player to talk about a new contract and terms, but he’s also willing to break the whip to prevent players from refusing to extend their expiring contracts.
Our investigations show that the club’s management has done everything possible to extend the player’s contract, but the player’s demands are enormous and the club is unwilling to pay that gigantic amount to keep the player.
Insiders say that the club’s management has asked the coach to remove him from the club’s plan and give Niger’s star midfielder Mamane Lawali and Abdul Aziz Nurudeen a chance to start more games to build his confidence.
Afutu is a hardworking midfielder who can pass well, tackle and shoot from long range. He joined the 20-time Ghana Premier League champions in 2018 and has proven to be the best defensive midfielder on the team.
He has paired perfectly with Emmanuel Nettey and Fredrick Ansah Botchway in the middle he has won the club more matches after this partnership.
Hearts Of Oak signed Niger midfielder Mamane Lawale this season and he could be the direct replacement for Afutu Kotey this season.
The 23-year-old defensive midfielder who played for Al Merreikh in Sudan tried his first major league game against Ashgold in the second week of the Ghana Premier League and was excellent.
By: Mohammed Shaban
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