Afriyie Barnieh's contract saga: Ungratefulness claim and what has been said so far

The thought of losing Daniel Afriyie Barnieh as a free agent has been weighing heavily on Accra Hearts of Oak, who are desperately exploring all available means to convince their poster boy to extend his contract.

Afriyie Barnieh, who became the second Accra Hearts of Oak player after Daniel Quaye to have made Ghana's final FIFA World Cup squad, is in his final days as a player for the Phobians as his contract, according to reports, will run out by the end of December 2022.

The Black Stars forward joined Accra Hearts of Oak as a free agent in 2020 as an additional package for the Phobians, who had completed the signing of Nurudeen Abdul Aziz, a player who shared the same agency with Barnieh at the time.

Barnieh, before wearing the rainbow colours, had trials at Asante Kotoko but was not signed by the record Ghana Premier League champions, who felt he was not good enough.

The 21-year-old took his chance and became the poster boy of the Accra Hearts of Oak project despite struggling in his debut league season, which was truncated due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

He won a local treble in his second season with the arrival of coach Samuel Boadu, who led them to the 2020/2021 Ghana Premier League, MTN FA Cup, and the Super Cup trophy.

But now he is reportedly reluctant to extend his stay with the Phobians, who are disappointed that the trend of losing their superstars as free agents is continuing.

What has been said so far

According to reports, Accra Hearts of Oak are now willing to meet the player's demands and have agreed to put a clause in his contract that allows him to leave should a foreign team come calling.

Also, it has been reported that Accra Hearts of Oak are ready to make him the highest-paid player in the club and the league in general.

Sources closer to Afriyie Barnieh's camp have also said that the player is not willing to extend his contract because the Phobians had a $200,000 offer from Norwegian club Vikings FC six months ago.

Ungratefulness claim from Nyaho-Tamkloe

After failing to tie him down with a new contract, Daniel Afriyie Barnieh is now suffering from the fates of Vincent Atinga, Thomas Abbey, Kwame Kizito, and Benjamin Afutu, who left the club as free agents.

Board Member of Accra Hearts of Oak, Dr. Nyaho Nyaho Tamakloe, has always started playing the victim card with the club's popular phrase "we gave you a platform when you were a nobody" forgetting that football is business.

Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamkloe has said that the club shouldn't stand in the way of Afriyie Barnieh and should let him leave if he wants to be ungrateful to the club.

"We have not even had the opportunity to sit down with him. Whenever you call him, he’ll give an excuse, and because he gets invited to the national teams he’ll tell you that we are going here, and when we come back, I’ll sign.”

“I’ve told my colleagues on the board that we should not allow him to dictate to us. If he is unwilling to sign, we should allow him to go because it was Hearts that brought him to the limelight, and if he wants to be ungrateful, he should be allowed to go," he said, as quoted by Graphic Sports.

Charles Taylor's attacks on Barnieh

For someone who left Accra Hearts of Oak painfully to join the club's rival in 2003 for better working conditions, Charles Taylor today is criticizing Afriyie Barnieh for following his footsteps.

Charles Taylor criticized Barnieh for dragging out his contract extension talks, claiming that he has not been exceptional in his ability to bluff and drag his feet in contract negotiation talks.

"Afriyie Barnie should think twice because he is not even at that top level now to behave like he is big now on Hearts of Oak.

"We played for 6 good years, and Hearts of Oak benefits a lot from us, but you can't say the same for Afriyei Barnie because he has only played three seasons for Hearts and is only in the last season that he was able to pick up, so he is not even at that top level to feel big on Hearts of Oak," he said on Sports Obama TV.

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