Ghana international midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng has started to warm FC Barcelona bench after joining the giants on January 21st in the winter transfer window on loan from Serie A side Sassuolo and I am least surprised.

The former AC Milan offensive midfielder has been unused substitute in the last three Barcelona matches against Girona, Sevilla and Valencia.

This is after Boateng’s debut against Sevilla in the first leg of their quarterfinal tie in which he started and lasted 63 minutes before his place was taken by Luis Suarez.

I must admit that when the Nou Camp team came calling and Boateng accepted I was excited for this massive transfer for the 31-year old who became the first Ghanaian to play for the Spanish giants.

It is a golden opportunity for any footballer to be counted among list of players to wear the Blaugrana colors in history. Being a player of say Levante or Sassuolo and FC Barcelona are definitely not the same thing.

There were Emmanuel Amunike, Daniel Amokachi, Samuel Eto’o, Yaya Toure, Seidu Keita and now there is Kevin-Prince Boateng.

But the fact that Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho are Barcelona’s foremost attacking players , the German-born Ghanaian knew exactly what he was going into – and that is to settle at a back up role which has clearly shown.

Barcelona needed someone to provide striking reinforcement to Suarez but they wanted somebody to accept a back up role it could not have been Harry Kane or Mohamed Salah. Prince Boateng accepted and the reality is upon him.

Boateng at age of 31 is truly not at his peak but 5 goals in 15 appearances for Sassuolo this season meant the scorer of a goal against USA in South Africa 2010 World Cup is not finished at all and could prove to be key to Ernesto Valverde’s side but at the moment he must accept the reality and continue to work hard to make the most out of every least opportunity that may come.