Muntari needs no introduction to the game. He’s a real gem. The rumors that Hearts Of Oak chasing Muntari ought to be real. Born on 27th August 1984 at Konongo in the Ashanti Region.
Muntari was enrolled in the famous Liberty Professionals Football Academy in 2000-2001. He ended up joining Udinese in spite of impressing during a trial at Manchester United. The 35-year-old also spent some months in the Udinese academy. Muntari was part of the Ghana Under-20 team at the 2001 FIFA under 20 world cup in Argentina where Ghana finished as runners up at the age of sixteen.
Muntari is a journeyman after playing for some of the famous clubs in the world; Udinese, Portsmouth, Internazionale Milan, Sunderland, AC Milan, Al-Ittihad Jeddah, Pescara, Deportivo La Coruna, and Albacete.
Muntari has almost 400 appearances in his club career in Europe. He has 87 caps for the Black Stars and has been at the FIFA world cup on three occasions. This is the kind of experience Hearts of Oak will need to get massive attention from the supporters and the football world. His presence will attract supporters to any venue in the country. He has more than 230,000 followers on Instagram. Imagine a quarter of it monitoring Hearts of Oak matches and the Ghanaian league in toto.
Muntari has also shared the dressing room with some legendary players in his career; Ibrahimovich, Zanetti, Lucio, Materazzi, Sneijder, Kaka, Essien, Nwankwo Kanu, Germain Defoe, Kelvin Prince Boateng among others. With such a high profile world-class players as his formal teammates, there’s no doubt about his experience and exposure.
As a treble winner with Inter Milan in the 2009/10 season, Muntari has been under the tutelage of some of the renowned managers of our time; Jose Mourinho, Max Allegri, and Harry Redknapp.
Signing Sulley will be a massive coup for our league and I am sure it will definitely get international recognition just like what the South American clubs have been doing with the signing of some of their popular footballers when they’re about to retire from Europe. Boca snapped Riquelme from Villareal and he’s now their second vice President which Sulley can go on after retirement and hold a higher position at the club. Mascherano is now playing for Estudiantes La Plata after his long successful career in Europe. Luis Nazario Ronaldo joined Corinthians from Milan in 2009 and Ronaldinho too joined Flamengo from Milan in 2011. Such transfers attract attention from the football world and also boost the financial prowess of teams and leagues that are able to secure the signatures of such players.
Muntari’s signing may not sound well financially but it is something that the GFA should even consider helping the teams to snap up such players. After Muntari, all Ghanaian football fans will want to see Asamoah Gyan playing for Asante Kotoko as he has been saying always that he is an avid supporter of Kumasi Asante Kotoko.
Such transfers should be a national priority if we indeed want to see the glory days of our local league. We will all welcome our legends back to our league if they are willing to play. His signing will be a blessing in disguise.
by: Amakye Ansah Oliver
