Sammy Kuffour
Former Ghanaian international, Samuel Osei Kuffour has disclosed how Lothar Matthäus played a key role to get him signed by German giants Bayern Munich.
Kuffuor joined Bayern Munich in 1993 from Italian club Torino where he spent two seasons with the youth side of Torino.
After a season-long loan spell with FC Nurnberg in the second division, he made his breakthrough with the Bavarians.
He spent 12 seasons with Bayern, rising from the youth teams to become a prominent first-squad member who lifted the UEFA Champions League with the club in the 20000/2001 season and also scoring the winning goal in the 2001 Intercontinental Cup.
Speaking at an event at the German Ambassador’s residence on Tuesday night, Kuffour narrated the significant role Lothar played when he arrival at Bayern.
“When I got to Germany, I was training with the first team and he told me, ‘You are good.’ I was feeling cold so he had to got o the chief garage and bring me clothes and took me shopping for two days,”Kuffour told Joy Sports.
”I was coming from Torino, who wanted big money and [Karl-Heinz] Rummenigge didn’t want to pay the money and Lothar said, ‘We know that the guy is good. If you don’t want to pay, I am paying the money from my pocket to sign him so when he develops, you have to pay me ten times [what I paid]. Then Bayern immediately signed me. I was very young but he saw the potential in me and playing alongside him was a dream come true because when I was young, watching him play the 1990 World Cup and become the best player of the tournament, World Player of the Year and standing on the same training ground with him was a blessing”, he added.
Kuffour won six Bundesliga titles with Bayern before he left Germany to join Italian outfit AS Roma in 2005 on a free transfer.
Lothar co-owns Ghana Premier League side Accra where he joined forces with Ghanaian international Frank Acheampong and player agent Oliver König to complete the purchase of the club.
LSN/DO
