“I won’t mention names but I’m sure some players are paid GHS400, GHS500, in the Ghana Premier League a month,” Emmanuel Agyeman Badu has said to highlight how poorly local footballers were paid.

“The boys are really suffering in this country,” the former midfielder emphasised, speaking to Nana Romeo on Accra 100.5 FM’s Ayekoo Ayekoo midmorning show.

He worried some player “in some teams in Ghana” were so badly remunerated they could not meet their basic needs for the game.

“Ask yourself how much football boots are,” he said.

He noted the long distances some underprivileged GPL players constantly covered to train at designated facilities, highlighting this was due to “[terrible] systems” in Ghana.

Badu suggested salaries were much better in teams like “Hearts, Kotoko, Medeama,” however.

He said these unacceptable conditions were created by a number of things, including lack of sponsorship for football in the country, and poor salaries which push players to migrate in search of greener pastures.

He recognised government’s efforts in providing adequate infrastructure for the game but earnestly appealed for the state’s intervention via “injecting money” into the league.

“Also, if we feel the teams are one too many, we can cut down the numbers. The teams in Scotland are 12 or 10. The teams are not many in Belgium. [Prioritise] those who have the money to finance and pay the players well. Cut down the numbers to even 12, it doesn’t matter if they’d have to play home and away four times,” Badu added.

He said better remuneration for players would control the exodus of talents and ensure consistency in lineups, something cherished and respected by supporters.

“If after a year you sell off all your stars, who is the supporter going to see at the stadium?” he asked.

Agyeman Badu posited a threshold for teams “similar to the Bank of Ghana refusing you a license if you don’t have GHS400,000.

“If your finances are weak and you can’t pay your players to a good point, they’d not allow you in the league. Even with 10 teams – they can play home and away multiple times – so there’s always money in the system, you can keep the players, and supporters would come to the stadium to watch the stars,” the former Udinese star emphasised.