BY NADIA NTIAMOAH
Ghana Football Association President Kurt Okraku has explained why Antoine Semenyo was allowed to remain in England to continue his recovery instead of travelling to Ghana for another medical assessment ahead of the Black Stars’ 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Semenyo was initially included in Carlos Queiroz’s squad but subsequently withdrew as he continues to recover from a leg injury. His absence represents a significant blow to Ghana ahead of Thursday’s opening Group C qualifier against Côte d’Ivoire in Bouaké.
According to Okraku, Semenyo and Queiroz discussed the situation directly, with the Manchester City forward even offering to travel to Ghana if the technical team required further examination.
“Antoine [Semenyo] and the coach spoke, and he told the coach, ‘If you need me, I will come down for the medical team to re-examine me. But the truth is that my leg is swollen, and we need to treat it,’” Okraku told Asempa FM.
However, the GFA president said the decision was ultimately taken to allow the player to continue his recovery rather than bring him to Ghana for an examination that was unlikely to change his availability for the matches.
Okraku explained that the GFA had to weigh the benefit of another assessment against the need to ensure the forward recovered properly for both club and country during the next international window.
“As a leader, if you want to know your players, and in this particular case, we know the players and how honest they are when it comes to situations like this, you’d have to ask yourself whether you’d allow Antoine to continue with his recovery and be ready for Man City and for Ghana during the next window, or have Antoine fly down to Ghana to undergo an MRI and then ask him to go back because he can’t play. His leg is swollen,” he added.
The explanation comes as Ghana deal with a number of squad changes ahead of the opening qualifier, with Mohammed Kudus and Nathaniel Adjei also unavailable.
