Avram Grant: Talent is not enough, Black Stars coach tells Black Satellites

Black Stars coach, Avram Grant has warned the national U-17 players that their talent is not enough if they want to reach the highest peak of global football.

The Black Satellites will be engaging in their first national assignment against Burkina Faso following a successful nationwide scouting for young talents earlier this year.

Avram Grant has warned them that their success in football will depend on several factors and not only their talent.

"Football players across the world start from the youth level. All the best players you see in Europe playing for the best club's started like you -- from the U-17; many of them.

"So when I look at you, the question I ask myself is, who are the players that five or six years from now, we will see them playing in good clubs, we see them representing the Black Stars?," the former Chelsea manager said when he visited the team at their training ground at the Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence in Prampram.

"One thing I know is that all of you have the talent, but talent is not enough. You need to have passion to be a good football player, and passion leads to discipline, passion leads to hard work and you need to have a very strong mentality.

"These are the key things you need in football to succeed," he said.

Ghana is making a return to the continent's flagship juvenile championship after being banned two years ago from the competition for fielding an over-aged player.