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Player Profile of Saturday, 7 October 2006

Source: Truemamamia

Ahmed Barusso: The Next Big Thing

PLAYER PROFILE: Ahmed Barusso
The Rising Star in Italia Serie B

I want to take this opportunity to congratulate Claude Le Roy for his appointment as the new Coach of the Ghanaian Senior National Team. The 58 years old becomes the 36th coach of the Black Stars and succeeds Serbian Ratomir Dujkovic, the brain behind Ghana's success at the World Cup. Definitely, Le Roy is aware of the expectations of the Ghanaian Population especially with Ghana hosting the 2008 Nations Cup.I wish him good luck.

With such a daunting task of winning the African Nations Cup for the 5th time on home soil to equal Egypt's enviable record, it is imperative that within this period Ghana plays as many friendlies as possible and as many players as possible are tried in order to get the best 23 to raise high the Red Gold Green Flag at the Nations Cup. That is why I would urge the GFA Foreign Based Players Monitoring Machinery to keep an eye on a rising Star in Italian Serie B.

Born in Accra on the 26th of October, 1984, Ahmed Apimah BARUSSO,the 1.84m tall bulky Ghanaian midfielder is earning rare reviews in the Italian Serie B. Barusso was part of the 2003 Ghanaian Olympic Team-Black Meteors comprising of of the likes of Asamoah Gyan,Derek Boateng, Joe Tex, Emmanuel Addoquaye pappoe and Don Bortey. The then big Central Defender was involved in the preliminary games against Liberia in the qualification for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. This Fc Nania player was recommened by Ghanaian Football Legend Abedi Ayew Pele to his Italian compatriot Franco Janich who took Barusso to the Manfredonia Amateur side. However, a new National Team Coach was appointed and he formed another team and Barusso went off the Radar.

With the Manfredonia Amateurs side he played 18 games and scored a lone goal. The next season he turned up for Manfredonia in the Serie C-2 where he played 19 games and scored twice. In the 2005/2006 season he played 24 games (5 goals) in the Serie C1. Unfortunately Manfredonia couldn?t qualify for the Serie B and it became harder to hold onto their most prized asset. A whole load of Serie B clubs came calling. He snubbed clubs like Modena and Piacenza and settled for Modest Rimini. 5 games into the Italian Serie B season and the Ghanaian star has been gaining rare reviews from newspapers all over the country including La Gazzetta dello Sport (with unquestionable International Reputation). He was voted the best player in the games involving Juventus and Bologna. It was exciting to see him boss the midfield in a game that had the likes of Del Piero, Pavel Nedved and Camoranesi. He opened his Serie B account with a wonderful strike from the distance against Bologna [VIDEO]

Barusso vrs Del Piero

Barusso, yhe number 14 man of RIMINI, nicknamed CIRO by Italian Fans arrived in Italy 3 years ago as a rugged Central defender and he has been polished into a Defensive Midfielder. He is extremely strong and wins the 50-50 balls in midfield, and has his load of shot from the distance in incredible. During the Pre-season he scored from the distance and his goals in Serie C were predominated by Long Distance strikes. He is definitely turning up to be one of the best players in this first phase of the Serie A. According to the Italian Press, he is currently being monitored by some unnamed SERIE A teams and if Barusso continues at this rate, he could find himself playing in Serie A next season.In an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport last week, he declared that his dream is to play in the Ghanaian National Team alongside his friend Michael Essien and he will continue working hard towards that. http://www.goal.com/it/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=137381

What is the relevance of this article?

It is to draw the attention of the Powers that be to this budding star. Doesn?t necessarily mean that he is a solution to the Black Stars but he is definitely one that is currently showing potential and needs to be observed. Italian Serie B has been good to Ghana. It gave the chance to John Mensah and Asamoah Gyan to improve the basics of their game and today they find themselves at quality clubs Udinese and Rennes respectively. This boy need to be encouraged by our authorities and duely monitored because if the buzz that he is enjoying in the Italian Press is anything to go by, then we will certainly hear more about him as the season progresses.