Desailly wants Avram Grant to exclude Muntari, Essien and Boateng from Ghana AFCON squad

Published on: 17 December 2014
Desailly wants Avram Grant to exclude Muntari, Essien and Boateng from Ghana AFCON squad
Marcel Desailly wants Muntari and the rest out of the Black Stars

Football legend Marcel Desailly, has advised Black Stars coach, Avram Grant, to look beyond Sulley Muntari, Michael Essien and Kevin-Prince Boateng if he wants to succeed as a coach of the Black Stars.

In his view, although Muntari and the two others are good players he does not think their inclusion in the team would inure to the benefit of the Black Stars and for that matter they must be axed out of the team.

“It is time the coach cuts Muntari and the others out. He does not need them to succeed," the 46-year-old former Chelsea of England captain said in an interview with Viasat 1 morning show programme last Monday.

The World Cup winning ex-France skipper said it was about time the coach started afresh by going round to look for quality materials to rebuild the team and overlook those who could potentially cause distraction in the team.

“We have the players, you just have to find the magic formulae to allow them to perform," he said.

"Today we are still using some players that potentially should not be in the team anymore, and you should allow some players to express themselves to be the new generation of players to perform for Ghana.”

Using South Africa as an instance, Desailly challenged Grant to take a cue from the rainbow nation who, in spite of their well organised league, had a weak team until new players were invited and suddenly have started performing much to the admiration of many.

Touching on the role he would play with the Black Stars, he said he won’t be in their camp during the AFCON because it could be a distraction but what he would be doing would be to psyche them up and motivate them ahead of the competition.

He also explained that he turned down the Black Stars job offer because it wasn’t the right time for him due to the controversy that surrounded Kwasi Appiah’s dismissal and the fact that he was not part of the shortlisted applicants.

Do you think Desailly is right? Do you think Desailly has no right to talk about these issues since he did not play for Ghana? Does Ghana need these three players? Make your views known in the below:

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website.
Learn more