Former Ghana international, Derek Boateng has slammed the Ghana Football Association and Ghanaians for calling out Felix Afena-Gyan after he turned down an invitation to play for Ghana’s under-23 side, the Black Meteors.
Some fans descended on Felix Afena-Gyan after Black Meteors head coach, Ibrahim Tanko disclosed that the striker’s management turned down a request for him to play for the Black Meteors in the U-23 Africa Cup of Nations final qualifier against Algeria.
Reacting to Afena-Gyan’s decision to ignore the Black Meteors call-up, Derek Boateng explained that he fully supports the decision of the player.
According to him, GFA stabbed the youngster in the back after he gave off his best in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers and left him out of the final squad for the tournament in Qatar.
“I really think Ghanaians haven’t been fair to that boy so right now that he has turned down an invitation, I support it. Football now is not about going to the field and performing a lot of things adds up that people don’t care about and only blame players that they don’t perform,” Derek Boateng stated.
“Football is about the brain so if you don’t have a sound mindset you can never perform. In our two matches against Nigeria, he was our best player. He was the player that was fighting four Nigerian defenders because we were playing one top. He did everything possible, we qualified for the World Cup and they didn’t invite him and now they want him for under 23 and his management said he is not ready,” he stated.
The former Fulham midfielder urged the GFA to send a delegation to Italy to convince the player to play for the Black Meteors if the country is determined to qualify for the Olympic Games in Paris.
“If the FA thinks about him and his mental issues, they have to take a plane there and talk to him so that he feels important. This under-23 AFCON that they want to go, they will need him if they want to win. They have to call him not on phone but by going to see him in person. He needs to feel that we care about him because these are the things we do that make us lose good players. He is a young player so if you do that to him, then you are killing him. The FA know the right thing to do”, Derek Boateng said.
Ghanaweb