Why Ember Power rejected Germany move 'cooked' by Sammy Kuffour to sign for Asante Kotoko

The added advantage of pursuing the same career path as a blood relative is that their accomplishments illuminate you and give you opportunities that would have been hard to come by under normal circumstances.

Through the strides of such illustrious siblings, doors open for you to advance your career path and draw closer to your dreams and objectives.

In the sporting world, particularly football, examples aplenty of how some footballers negotiated certain packages for their family members before they sign for a club.

A typical and perhaps most recent example is how Sadio Mane managed to get a childhood friend a job at Bayern Munich as a condition for his move to the club.

A similar thing happened at Asante Kotoko when the club was in hot pursuit of now cult hero Michael Osei alias Ember Power.

Ember Power narrated on Dan Kwaku Yeboah TV that he joined Asante Kotoko at the expense of a life-changing abroad to save the career of a sibling.

According to him, his brother was among a number of players listed to be sacked by Asante Kotoko with the condition being that if he joined them from Ebusua Dwarfs, his brother was going to be retained.

At the time, Sammy Kuffour had managed to use his influence to secure a life-changing deal for Ember Power at German side Arminia Bielefeld.

Michael Osei then had the decision to make, a move abroad or a move to Asante Kotoko where he was guaranteed starting roles and was going to save the career of his brother.

“My failure to play in Europe might be my biggest regret because my football suited that style. I don’t blame anyone but myself because Sammy Kuffour offered me a chance at Armenia Bellefield.

“The club wanted me to sign for them so he asked me not to sign for Kotoko but Kotoko was letting go some old players and my brother was on that list. Adu Poku told me that if I don’t sign for Kotoko, they’d sack my brother so I had to sign for Kotoko to save my brother’s career. So when I signed up for them, they renewed my brother’s contract. With hindsight, I should have gone abroad and returned later for him”.

Michael Osei is touted as one of the most prolific strikers to have played for the Porcupine Warriors.

He spent five years at Kotoko from 2000 to 2005. He was the top scorer of the defunct CAF Winners Cup in 2002.



KPE