Hearts of Oak striker Ishmael Addo has been loaned to Bastia, just before the French league's winter transfer window closed on Thursday night.

Addo, 20, a member of a rejuvenated Black Stars squad now vying for honours at the African Nations Cup in Mali, was one of the key players that saw Hearts of Oak winning the Domestic league, FA Cup and African Champions League treble in 2000.

He will join another young Ghanaian player Michael Essien, who also plays for the Corsican club. Senegal striker Pape Thiaw also moved to France joining Strasbourg from Swiss club Lusanne.

The transfer will no doubt put both players in the right frame as they look ahead to the quarter-finals of the Nations Cup. Addo's Black Stars are facing their toughest test yet, against archrivals Super Eagles of Nigeria. When the two teams met at the semi-final stage 10 years ago in Senegal, the Black Stars triumphed 2-1 with Abedi Pele, now a member of the Ghanaian Football Association board scoring a vital equaliser.

But the current Black Stars squad are a shadow of their illustrious past teams and Pele admitted they must raise their game on Sunday to beat the Super Eagles.

He said: "I have really not been impressed with our performance so far in this competition. I know we can do better than this. The truth is we were lucky to qualify for the quarter-finals.

"We need to improve. Maybe the rivalry between Nigeria and us will pomp the adrenalin and motivate the players to show what they can really do."