I coached Abedi Pele when he was playing for ‘Professionals’ - Mohammed Polo

Mohammed Polo has indicated that he was the coach of legendary player Abedi Pele when he was playing for ‘Professionals’ which was a side he formed in the late 1980s.

Polo who is one of the finest players Ghana has ever produced explained that he brought together a group of Ghanaian players who were plying their trade abroad and those who had retired but had stints overseas and named the side Professionals and he invited Abedi Pele who was then featuring for RTU to join them.

The former Hearts of Oak and Ghana midfielder has narrated how he coached and mentored Abedi Pele, including helping him to get a deal abroad.

“I went to Dubai and came back. The way I went through I don’t want this youngster to go through the same thing. I made it clear to him. I bought a car and I was picking him, he was going to academicals camp at Madina, so I picked him at the stadium,” he told Pulse.com.gh.

“I advised him; my friend don’t waste your time. We have suffered here (Ghana), so don’t suffer like me. You know lo and behold he had an opportunity at an early age.

“At a point in time I even became his coach we were doing this professional. Professionals who were playing outside, we organized ourselves and I was the coach.

“We were going to Benin and I invited him that my friend come and go with us (Abedi Pele was then with RTU). You are a player that needs to be given this sort of (opportunity), so I took him.

“I remember he had his first contract over there (Benin), before he came and went to Qatar and afterwards to Noirt in France.

“When he went there (France), he even came back, so I called him master come, as for you, you are a gem you will play”.

Abedi Pele in 1984 played for AS Dragons FC de l'Ouémé in Benin. Before then he has had stints with Al Sadd of Qatar and Zurich of Switzerland, but he returned to RTU in 1985.

Abedi Pele had a sensational career in Europe, winning the CAF Champions League in 1993 with Olympique Marseille and he also excelled with the Black Stars- he was a member of the Ghana team that won the 1982 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Libya and also captained the West African powerhouse as they reached the final of the 1992 AFCON.

Abedi Pele was the first player to have won the African Footballer of the Year on three consecutive occasions.