Manaf Umar was a key man for Hearts of Oak when Kosta Papic was in charge of the Phobians this season but currently he is a fringe player in the same team following the arrival of coach Samuel Boadu and new signing Salifu Ibrahim from Eleven Wonders.
Papic offered the young Umar his first big opportunity this season and the truth is that Umar did not disappoint during that period.
Umar was an unused substitute – as it has been the case for the past five games or so – in his team’s last game against Great Olympics as Boadu selected to bring on Patrick Razak and Abednego Tetteh for his two substitution.
As a mater of fact Manaf notbaly played 59 minutes in the Hearts of Oak 3 Dreams FC 0 game, 90 minutes against Aduana Stars in Dormaa, 90 minutes against Bechem United as the Phobians won 6-1 with Manaf as one of the goal-scorers.
But under Boadu the young Phobian has seen his playign time drastically cut to zero for the past few games and this is largely due to the emergence of second round signing Salifu as an undisputed starter. The former Medeama trainer has plenty of options in attack and it appears that , obviously, Manaf is far behind on the pecking order. Even Patrick Razak has had to start games from the bench sometimes.
