Former Ghana right-back John Paintsil suspects that Southampton defender Mohammed Salisu is brooding over playing for the Black Stars due to Kevin-Prince Boateng’s experience.
After a good start with the Black Stars, Kevin-Prince Boateng endured some difficult spells with the team before being banned post-2014 World Cup.
The German-born Ghanaian had issues with handlers of the team as well as the Ghanaian media on some occasions.
Salisu as per reports is not interested in playing for the Black Stars despite multiple attempts by the FA and former Black Stars coach CK Akonnor to have him represent the country.
John Paintsil tells Goal.com that Salisu might have picked some lessons from the KP Boateng episode and that might have been fueling his disinterest in the Black Stars.
He has however urged the left-footed center-back to reconsider his decision as playing for one’s country is the biggest highlight of any player’s career.
“Playing for your country is the best thing that will ever happen to any player because it’s something that will put you on the map for people to see, and your respect will rise high and a lot of clubs will even start chasing you when they see you play at the World Cup and Africa Cup,” Paintsil, who represented Ghana at the 2006 and 2010 World Cups, told Goal.
“What I am thinking is that he’s probably looking at some of the players like Kevin-Prince Boateng who came to play for Ghana and at the end the boy was struggling with the media, being dropped from the World Cup, fighting, all these things – players look at all these before joining the national team.
“So I think he may be needs time, and as an ex-player, I’ll advise that playing for Ghana will help him a lot and boost him higher for a lot of clubs to see him. Sometimes you don’t look at what is happening to somebody and make a decision on that.
“For me, Ghana Black Stars is the best place for every player in the world. So I’ll advise that whatever is keeping him away should be respected but I would say he should speed up and play for his country.”
John Paintsil further advised the Black Stars coach Milovan Rajevac to make moves and establish a relationship with Salisu.
“Now it’s up to the coach to build a good relationship with him because, at the end of the day, he’s going to play for his country but also play for the coach,” Paintsil, who played together with Boateng at the 2010 World Cup, added.
“The coaches want to build a solid team that can compete with any country, so he will be a top material for us going forward, especially this Afcon that we call it a must-win and people believe the cup is definitely coming home. So if the coach can convince him and assure him that he’s going to be there for him.
“Let’s leave the talks more for the coach to do, visit him, talk to him one-on-one, if the coach really needs him. I hope our big men at the GFA, the Management Committee together with the coach will try and convince him so he can join the team.”