Former Black Stars midfielder Derek Boateng believes Spain deliberately blocked Nico Williams' chances of playing for Ghana.

Nico Williams, who was born to Ghanaian parents, was one of the players the Ghana Football Association had pursued to convince to play for the national team.

Although the 21-year-old chose to play for the Spanish national team, his older brother, Inaki Williams, chose to represent Ghana.

However, Derek Boateng, who played for Getafe in Spanish La Liga, opined that the Spanish Football Federation was more intentional about Nico Williams, thus blocking his chances of playing for the Black Stars.

According to him, the GFA has continuously failed in its bid to get players to switch nationalities.

“How can we lose players like Kobbie Mainoo, Jeremy Doku, Jeremie Frimpong, and Nico Williams? Inaki is playing for us, but why couldn’t we get Nico? Because he is good and talented, Spain blocked his chances of playing for Ghana,” Boateng said in his interview on Kingdom FM.

“We must do a lot more, and we shouldn’t wait until they are grown up and playing before we start talking to them. By then, their parents will not even allow it because we were not there from the beginning, so why now?”

Kobbie Mainoo, Jeremy Doku, Jeremie Frimpong, and Nico Williams all played for their respective countries at the 2024 Euros.

JNA/NOQ