I will not let my son play for Ghana under current conditions – Odartey Lamptey

Former Ghana international Nii Odartey Lamptey has said that until some radical changes occur in Ghana football, the nation will struggle to convince footballers born abroad to play for the country.

Odartey laments that the treatment meted out to ex-footballers will always deter others from playing for the country.

According to him the European-based players have taken cues from the nation’s treatment of retired players and are not ready to switch nationality to Ghana.

Ghana was on the heels on Anderlecht youngster Jeremy Doku to have him switch allegiance to the country but the pursuit ended in futility after the winger made his Belgium debut earlier this month.

Odartey Lamptey has revealed the parents of the player were against him playing for Ghana.

He alleges that the parents were concerned that their son could end up as one of those players who switched nationality to Ghana but regretted their decision.

“I went to Belgium and I met Doku and his parents and we had interactions. You could feel his parents didn’t want him to play for Ghana.”, he told Ahomka FM.

“Even in this country, look at how we treat those who played for the country and have now resigned. Why would a parent who gave birth to a son in Europe allow him to play for Ghana? What this means is that we need to change a lot of things very fast to be able to convince these kids to come and play for us”.

For a man who once lived under the hype of ‘the next Pele’, it will not be out of place for Lamptey to have a son who will take after him and play football.

But Odartey says he will not allow any son of his to play for Ghana until there is a shift in how national team players are treated.

Lamptey reasons that a decision to play for Ghana or not will be at the discretion of his son but his advice as a father and ex-Ghana star will be for him to pick a different country.

“I will let him make his own decision but if I realize that things have not changed, I won’t allow him. He will take his own decision but for me, if the system is still like this, I will tell him not to play for Ghana”, he noted.