Ghana coach Otto Addo has revealed Black Stars will have new faces in their ranks by next week when some targeted players will change their nationalities.
Forward Eddie Nketiah of Premier League outfit Arsenal and Tariq Lamptey of Brighton & Hove Albion are among the players the Black Stars are said to have convinced to change their nationalities and play for them on the international stage.
Others are Stephan Ambrosius of Bundesliga club Hamburger SV, Chelsea’s Callum Hudson Odoi, and Inaki Williams of Athletic Bilbao. According to the 47-year-old Addo, the nationality switch will be made official any time next week before the Fifa break in September.
“It’s an open secret that we have talked to a lot of players and I think at latest by next week, we would know who would like to join us,” Addo said as quoted by Citisportsonline.
“Surely, we would have to be very fast now because we have set a limit, if someone wants to join us he must be ready for the September window, and for that, we will need answers now.
“Hopefully we will know more by next week and we will see if we can get one or two players to try out during the September international break.”
Meanwhile, Addo believes the team’s display at the 2022 Kirin Cup in Japan will give him a headache to name the squad for the 2022 Fifa World Cup finals in Qatar.
Ghana participated in the tournament as guests and ended up winning the bronze medal after defeating Chile 3-1 on penalties following a 0-0 draw in normal time on Tuesday.
“This tournament was good for us just to get some corrections and answers. There are a lot of tough decisions to be made,” Addo told reporters as quoted by FootballGhana.
“In the first match, you could see that we were tired it was a long flight and we had played two matches before. After Japan scored the third goal it broke us a little bit but in general, I will say I’m satisfied [and] I think we did well.
“This makes it difficult for me to choose the players for the next window [in September] and this will be the last window before the World Cup but any decision will be with me. We will decide which players come in or not.”
Ghana, who had lost their opening match of the recent tournament 4-1 against Japan, are pooled in Group H in Qatar alongside Portugal, Uruguay, and South Korea. They will kick off their campaign against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal on November 24 at Stadium 974.
