Sports News of Thursday, 22 October 2020

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Snubbing Kotoko to join Liberty Professionals was the first time I disrespected my mom - Muntari

Former Ghana International, Sulley Ali Muntari Former Ghana International, Sulley Ali Muntari

Former Ghana international, Sulley Ali Muntari has disclosed that snubbing Asante Kotoko to play for Liberty Professionals in the Ghana Premier League was the first time he disrespected his mother.

According to Sulley who hails from Konongo in the Ashanti Region, it was his mother’s dream to see him play for the Porcupines.

However, young Sulley opted to play for Liberty Professionals when the two clubs came knocking for his signature.

He explained that his decision to join the Dansoman based club was born out of the desire to earn more playing time to grab interest from clubs abroad at a young team which had less prominent stars compared to Asante Kotoko.

“I remember when Liberty came for me and my mother said no, my son will play for Kotoko,” Sulley Muntari said on McBrown's Kitchen.

“I like Kotoko because it’s like everything and I grew up in Kumasi and I saw everything. We go to the park at 9:00 am before Kotoko play and they park top players,” the former Portsmouth player stated.

He added, “Obodai, Michael Essien, Derrick Boateng were already top and they all went through Liberty. So, I looked at Kotoko and said they will buy me with all the money, I will play a little bit but there were top players I couldn’t compete with. So where can I compete? It was Liberty.”

Sulley reminisced that his decision to snub the Porcupines was his first act of disobedience to his mother which he remembers till date.

“My mom said don’t go and I said, I will go. That was the first time I disrespected my mom,” the former Inter Milan player said.

He went on to say, “I couldn’t see my mom suffer again, so at that young age I had to take that decision.”

With his successful football career gradually inching to an end, Ghanaian clubs like Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko have expressed interest in signing the former Black Stars midfielder who is fondly remembered for his long-distance shots.