Nana Yaw Amponsah, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Asante Kotoko, has disclosed that he had to persuade goalkeeper Danlad Ibrahim to reject an offer from Sudanese giants Al Hilal before the World Cup in Qatar.
Al Hilal, based in Omdurman, presented a $50,000 offer for the Black Galaxies goalkeeper, which was turned down by Kotoko as they believed Danlad’s value was twice the amount proposed.
In an interview with Kumasi-based Oyerepa FM on Wednesday, Nana Yaw Amponsah revealed his intervention in convincing Danlad to decline the offer in order to secure a place in the Black Stars’ World Cup squad.
“When a player like Danlad Ibrahim decided to leave Kotoko and join Hilal, I pleaded with him (to stay). That’s why we signed (Moise) Pouaty. It was only after Hilal lost interest that he agreed to stay, and by then we had already brought in Pouaty. But some of the things I told him [Danlad] were that if he agreed to stay, he would be Kotoko’s number one goalkeeper, play for the CHAN team, and also have an opportunity to participate in the World Cup. However, if he moved to Hilal, there was no guarantee that he would be the first choice there, he would automatically lose his CHAN spot, and if he didn’t become the number one at Hilal, it would be very difficult for him to make it to the World Cup.”
“So he thanked me when he stayed, and all these things eventually happened. You see, we don’t just wake up and sell players. If an offer comes and a player decides not to stay, no matter what, ‘you can force a horse to the river, but you can’t force it to drink’ because they also have families.”
“If you ask Bantamahene [Nana Baffour Owusu Amankwatia VI], when he was managing Kotoko, I was at his house when Inkoom’s father, mother, and pastor came to discuss an offer from Romania, urging us to allow him to go. I had to intervene and speak to convince the boy that if he stayed, a good offer would come. However, the family was somewhat hesitant, so it’s not our intention to sell players.”
Danlad has made 10 league appearances this seaso, conceding 12 goals and has kept 2 clean sheets in the 2022/23 Ghana Premier League season.
