Former Dutch-born Ghanaian international, George Boateng, has opened up on why he played for the Netherlands instead of the Black Stars.
The Aston Villa U-19 coach who was Nkawkaw in the Eastern part of Ghana moved to the Netherlands as a little boy to stay with his dad.
Following a 1994-95 breakthrough at Excelsior, he was snapped up by Feyenoord where he caught the eye of the Dutch national youth team handlers.
Boateng marked his maiden senior international appearance for the Dutch in a 1-1 draw in Denmark in 2001.
“As a young star, when I made my debut in the Feyenoord first team, nobody in the GFA ever came to me or sent a letter to express their interest, to say 'George Boateng is one of our players, he was born in Ghana, he is eligible to play for us. Can we please ask him or invite him for a game?'", Boateng told Citi TV.
"Such a thing never took place. When I was 18 and I debuted [at club level], the Dutch national team did that, they invited me to come and play for the under-18 team, which I did.
“The player is not the one who is supposed to make the initial approach to the GFA to ask if I can play for the team - that is the unorthodox way.
“The professional way is that the federation will send an invite because it is supposed to be an honour for you to be invited to play for your country.
“So in those seven years, I could have made my mind up and played for Ghana."
Boateng has played for the likes of Feyenoord, Coventry City, Aston Villa, Middlesbrough, Hull City, Skoda Xanthi in Greece, Nottingham Forest and Terengganu II in Malaysia.