Former Black Stars midfielder Derek Boateng revealed that an injury to a key player in the AIK Stockholm setup resulted in his change of role to a defensive midfielder.
The 37 year old had a successful career abroad, playing in Germany, England, Spain and others before hanging up his boots. He was praised for his work as a defensive midfielder.
However, he started in the number 1o role during his time at Liberty Professionals and when he was asked about it, he recounted the incident that led to the change in his role.
“I started playing as a defensive midfielder because when I moved from Panatanaikos to AIK Stockholm, our captain then [a defensive midfielder] got a bad injury during the middle of the season and we could not sign any player so the coach asked me [to play that role] because I am very good with the ball," he revealed on the Joy Sports Link.
"I didn’t like it in the first place but he sat me down and talked to me about it. Sometimes you have to take one for the team. I dropped there and we won the next game. I won man of the match and I continued playing in that position.”
Boateng made 47 appearances for the Black Stars and scored one goal.