Callum Hudson-Odoi
Ghana Football Association President, Kurt Edwin-Simeon Okraku has disclosed that plans are far advanced to get Chelsea star Callum Hudson-Odoi to play for the country, hailing his football ambitions.
The Chelsea academy graduate has been in Ghana for holidays after he was excluded from England's squad for the Euros.
The Champions League winner's presence has sparked reports of a nationality switch after he was omitted from England manager Gareth Southgate’s squad.
The President of the country, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, during a visit by the Chelsea star, charged the Sports Ministry and the GFA to make sure Hudson-Odoi switches to play for Ghana.
However, the Ghana FA boss has revealed talks are far advanced to get the 20-year-old to play for his fatherland.
Mr Okraku also lauded the ambitions of the winger and his plans to help Ghanaian footballers.
“We started the process of getting Ghanaian talents everywhere to represent Ghana; that included the collection of data on players from U-10 to senior level,” Kurt Okraku said on TV3’s WarmUp Plus Show.
“The result is what we have now, we have Alex Djiku playing for Ghana, Tariqe Fosu also playing for Ghana and in the past, we have had loads of players born in Europe play for Ghana.
“I mean I spoke with Callum Hudson Odoi before he got to Ghana and we promised to speak again when we meet in Ghana, we have met, we’ve had discussions that centered beyond playing for Ghana and he has a crazy ambition of helping kids in Ghana and this is what excites me the most.
“We are looking forward to working with Odoi and his family and many other players who are interested in representing their country.
“We have a lot of them like that, we are talking to the technical team and the political authorities in getting them to play for Ghana,” he concluded.
Hudson-Odoi can switch nationality despite playing three times for England per the new FIFA rules concerning the change of country.
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