Former Ghana international Derek Boateng has urged the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to increase their efforts to attract European-born Ghanaian players to represent the Black Stars.
Although the GFA has successfully recruited players like Inaki Williams, Tariq Lamptey, and Antoine Semenyo, Boateng believes that the association needs a more structured plan to engage young players born in Europe and nurture them for the national team.
Boateng, who played for Fulham, highlighted how countries like Germany are proactive in scouting young players with German roots and developing them for the national team. He expressed frustration at seeing players of Ghanaian descent, such as Kobbie Mainoo, Jeremy Doku, Jeremie Frimpong, and Nico Williams, representing European countries instead.
In an interview with Accra-based Kingdom FM, Boateng shared his experiences from scouting trips in the USA, where he observed other countries' efforts to identify and develop young talent with roots in their respective nations. He noted that Germany, in particular, actively scouts young players with German heritage and brings them into the fold early to foster a sense of national identity.
"We have been in the USA for scouting jobs multiple times and I have seen expatriates also joining to scout players, but they are doing that for their country. I know Germany is doing that. They want to bring all young players with roots in Germany and, after identifying them, they will camp them. By doing that, the players will know where they are coming from," he said.
Boateng lamented that Ghana does not have a similar approach, allowing players to slip through the net.
"We don't know how to do these things, and we keep losing players because we are not paying attention to how we can get them," he said. "How can we lose players like Kobbie Mainoo, Jeremy Doku, Jeremie Frimpong, and Nico Williams? Inaki is playing for us, but why couldn't we get Nico? Because he is good and talented, Spain blocked his chances of playing for Ghana."
Boateng criticized the GFA's reactive approach, emphasizing the need to engage players and their families from a young age rather than waiting until they have already begun their professional careers.
"We must do a lot more, and we shouldn't wait until they are grown up and playing before we start talking to them. By then, their parents will not even allow it because we were not there from the beginning, so why now?"
