Charles Taylor Leaves for Italy

Charles Taylor, the mercurial playmaker of champion club Accra Hearts of Oak departs Accra today to Italy for trials with some first division teams.

Mr Thomas Okine, Acting Chief Executive of Hearts told the GNA Sports that all arrangements have been completed for the player to play justifiers and if he impresses the Italians, he would either be sold or loaned to interested clubs.

The Acting Chief Executive said though Taylor is relevant to the championship ambitions of the Ghanaian champions, requests have come from Europe, and Hearts would not like to scuttle the professional ambition of the young player.

Charles was voted the Most Exciting Player of the year 2001 by the Ghana Football Association (GFA) but was surprisingly dropped from the Black Stars for the 2002 African Cup of Nations in Mali by caretaker coach, Fred Osam Duodu.

His exclusion generated a lot of media criticism and most fans accused Duodu of fluffing Ghana's chances in Mali as they regarded Taylor as the player who could hold the ball and create openings in opponents' defence for the strikers to make hay.

Lately, Charles has become the bad boy of Ghana football with the spate of red cards he has attracted.

During the four top tournaments during the off season, he bagged two red cards in two successive matches, making some football followers vindicate coach Duodu for dropping him.

In the five week old premiership, Taylor was the first player to attract an outright red card for an off the ball retaliatory offence when Hearts played city rivals, Great Olympics in third week match.

Consequently, the skilful playmaker is now serving a four match suspension.