Local players not ready for Black Stars, says Augustine Ahinful

Former Ghanaian international, Augustine Ahinful, has expressed doubts about the readiness of local players to compete for the senior national team, the Black Stars.

Ahinful's remarks come amidst ongoing discussions regarding the Black Stars' composition and the inclusion of domestic players in the squad.

There have been calls for the newly appointed technical team to consider a mix of both local and foreign-based players in the team.

However, the former Ashgold striker has cautioned against sidelining foreign-based players, emphasizing their experience and exposure to higher levels of competition as crucial for the team's success.

''So, the local players, yes, we can look at the best ones and select them into the national team, but we can't say that we should use the local players alone to play the national team," he told Graphic Sports.

Ahinful pointed to the disappointing performance of the local Black Stars at the recent Championship of Africa Nations (CHAN) tournament in Algeria as evidence. Ghana failed to progress beyond the group stage, leading Ahinful to question whether local players are prepared to compete at the highest level without the support of more experienced teammates.

''Somewhere last year there was this CHAN competition in Algeria and our local Black Stars were there and we didn't even qualify from the group stage. We saw how the players performed and now are we saying the same players should come and play at the AFCON?” he queried.

The Black Stars will regroup in June for their 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Mali and the Central African Republic.