Foreign players alone won’t help Black Stars – John Mahama

According to him, for the national team to thrive, it has to have a core of home-grown players who have worked together over a period.

In recent years, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has made a habit of courting foreign-born players to play for the Black Stars.

Before the Qatar 2022 World Cup, Inaki Williams and Tariq Lamptey switched nationality from Spain and England, respectively, to play for Ghana.

However, Mahama is of the view that the recent poor performances of the Black Stars are down to the fact that there was a lack of a local core of players.

“We will build the new Black Stars based on home-grown players. Domestic players who have trained together for a long time and worked as a team. Then we will bring the foreign ones to come and blend with them,” Mahama said on his tour in the Northern Region.

“If you bring only foreign players, they don’t play together, they play in their individual teams and when it’s time for a competition, you bring them together, it won’t work. The core of the Black Stars must be made by domestic players.”

Ghana exited the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) at the group stage after failing to win a single game.

The Black Stars were eliminated after losing to Cape Verde and drawing against Egypt and Mozambique in Group B.