Former Ghana international, Augustine Ahinful has argued that local players are not ready to feature for the senior national team, the Black Stars.
Ahinful's comments come amidst growing debate about the composition of the Black Stars and the role of domestic players in the squad.
Calls have suggested that the newly assembled technical team should build a team with a blend of local and foreign players.
However, the former Ashgold striker has cautioned against dismissing the contributions of foreign-based players, citing their experience and exposure to higher levels of competition as crucial factors in the team's success.
''So, the local players, yes, we can look at the best ones and select them into the national team, but we can't say that we should use the local players alone to play the national team," he told Graphic Sports.
The former striker highlighted the disappointing performance of the local Black Stars during the recent Championship of Africa Nations (CHAN) tournament in Algeria as a case in point.
Ghana failed to advance past the group stage, prompting Ahinful to question the readiness of local players to compete at the highest level without the support of their more experienced counterparts.
''Somewhere last year there was this CHAN competition in Algeria and our local Black Stars were there and we didn't even qualify from the group stage. We saw how the players performed and now are we saying the same players should come and play at the AFCON?” he queried.
The Black Stars will be reassembled later in June for their 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Mali and the Central African Republic.