Sacking the Ghana Football Association (GFA) boss is not the solution to the problems of Ghana football, star midfielder Emmanual Agyemang-Badu has said.

“I’m telling you on authority that the GFA boss is not happy about what’s going on there,” he added.

“My Uncle is Oduro Sarfo – all of them are not happy about what’s going on,” he noted, beseeching: “but they should be proactive.”

Agyemang-Badu asserted that Kurt Okraku, the GFA boss, “knows his job very well” but “he can’t do it alone, and so they should open their arms a bit so others can come complement their efforts with their knowledge”.

He explained his point by pointing to a Ghanaian international football star, Derek Boateng, who in retirement, has become an outstanding football scout.

“Derek Boateng is the head scout of Right to Dream Academy. He goes all across Ghana, to the known and unknown areas of the East, West, North and South.

“He finds them for the academy, as young as four or six years, and takes them to their camp in Akuse, where they train them till they are ripe for sale to an established team. After five or six years, you go for them for the national team but why don’t you rather employ Derek and set up a talent identification office for him so he goes round to secure talents for your national team’s U-15, U-17, and U-20?” Agyemang-Badu asked.

He asserted it is not prudent to wait till local talents are spotted, bought and utilised by international teams before the Ghana national team expresses interest.

Derek Boateng “has the eye. All the courses I’ve read, he made me pursue them all. He knows the job very well,” the former Black Stars star noted, adding: “Talent identification is different from coaching.”

“There are instances where, by divine gifting, one person can be a good coach and a good scout also but this is the exception,” he argued, underling, “This is why in Europe, Pep Guardiola is not the one who looks for players. There are people who do that work. I, for instance, was discovered by a scout for Udinese.”

Agyemang-Badu cautioned against coaches being burdened with talent scouting in addition to their primary job of managing the team.

“They should rather bond with someone who has been educated and trained in scouting, who will bring them talents. They can both monitor the players as they train, and the coach can decide on who to choose. This is the key for our national team,” he mentioned.

Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu spoke to Nana Romeo on Accra 100.5 FM's Ayekoo Ayekoo midmorning programme, Thursday, February 15, 2024.

Ghana did not win any match at the just-ended 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). The team’s lack-luster performance resulted in its elimination in the group stages. In response, the GFA sacked coach Chris Hughton. Others, like the #SaveGhanaFootball movement, who protested on Wednesday, have called for the sacking of the GFA boss and his management, as Ghana scouts for a new manager for the Black Stars.

| Sports TV presenter Countryman Songo, alias Patrick Osei-Agyeman, partaking in the #SaveGhanaFootball protests