Why Grant excludes players from local league

Black Stars coach Avram Grant says he has not found any player in the Ghanaian top-flight league who was an upgrade on the current players in the national team.

The former Chelsea manager opened up on why no outfield players in the local league made his team for the AFCON 2017 qualifier against Mauritius last Sunday.

Fatau Dauda was the only local player in the team, but he was a goalkeeper and observers had been asking why Grant could not bring in some outfield players in the First Capital Plus Premier League.

The Israeli, who has watched over nine matches in the Ghana top-flight, says he could not find any player in Ghana who is better than the current players in the Black Stars team.

“I am happy with the enthusiasm and spirit in the matches I have seen in the local league but as you know, we built a team that was good for the last AFCON and so, any new player I plan on bringing in must be better than the ones in the team.”

Grant also pointed to players leaving Ghana as another reason why no local outfield player made the Black Stars team.

He sought to question the conditions in Ghana that forced players to move abroad.

“We need to look at how things in Ghana are set up because every young player who is fairly good wants to go outside Ghana and I cannot tell if it is for monetary reasons,” Grant said.

“I monitor a lot of Ghanaians in Europe and the United States and I ask them why they left and they tell me it was for money and also for technical reasons since they want to develop themselves.”

Ghana’s next match in the 2017 AFCON qualifiers is against Rwanda in September.