Ghana midfielder Sulley Muntari has revealed that there are a lot of talents in the country however; their progress has been curtailed because national team coaches demand bribes from them to allow them don the national jersey.
Sulley Muntari burst onto the scene at youth level when he featured for the national under-17 team at the FIFA World Cup in 2001.
He has gone on to become a national star playing over 80 games scoring 12 times but has been critical of the current national youth team coaches.
According Sulley Muntari, during his days as a young player he was selected for the national team because he had the talent but nowadays the players have to pay bribes to get a call up.
“Ghana has raw and amazing talents but then most of them have to pay their way through to up there. But when I was picked to go national U-17, I didn’t pay for one penny at that time, so I was just picked because they liked the way I played,” he said on GHOne.
“So we should go back to how it was back then and not about who you know but it’s your talent that will make you move forward and that is what we can do to bring the generation up.”
“Look at the players that have played at the youthful level in the past, we don’t have them anymore and that kind of hunger anymore. So we should focus on our youth because there are lots of talents Academy’s in Ghana but you don’t see in the national team.”
The former Inter Milan Star also believes all stakeholders in the football fraternity must work together to find solutions on how youth football will thrive.
“I think the journalist together with the FA should work hard to find a solution to this problem and help the nations. Because most Ghanaians are not happy with what they are seeing compared to players like Stephen Appiah, Laryea Kingston, Sammy Kuffour, Abedi Pele and Augustine Arhinful…, ”Muntari said.