Ghana assistant coach Maxwell Konadu defends Avram Grant's AFCON call-ups

By Rahman Osman
Follow on Twitter: @iamrahmanosman
Ghana assistant coach Maxwell Konadu says his boss' provisional squad for the Africa Cup of Nations proves he has knowledge on Ghanaian players abroad.

Avram Grant named a 31-man squad and has less than two weeks to cut down to 23 for the tournament in Equatorial Guinea.

The former Chelsea manager left out experienced trio Michael Essien, Sulley Muntari and Kevin-Prince Boateng who were troublemakers at the World Cup.

Grant also invited four newcomers including striker Kwesi Appiah who plays in the English fourth-tier with Cambridge United on loan from Crystal Palace.

The rest were Enoch Adu Kofi of Swedish champions Malmo FF, FC Kairat of Kazakhstan new signing Ibrahim Moro and Daniel Amartey of FC Copenhagen.

“Grant's call up is evidence that he has been monitoring Ghanaian players and that good for us all,” Konadu said.

“If you have monitored he has tried to look for a mixture a both youth and experience.”

Ghana's preliminary squad will head on Seville, Spain for a ten-day pre-tournament camping on 03 January, 2015