AC Milan star Kevin Prince Boateng admits Ghana made him world class player
Posted On Thursday, 7th March 2013
Kevin Prince Boateng doing the Ghana dance with Muntari
AC Milan midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng has admitted for the first time that playing for Ghana three years ago catapulted him to greatness in the face of his flagging career.
The 26-year-old, who plays for the Italian giants, snubbed Ghana just one year after playing for the West African country helped him to secure the big-money move to Milan.
Boateng switched nationality to play for the country of his father at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa at a time his career was going nowhere with relegated English side Portsmouth.
The midfielder was on the verge of being relegated to the obscurity of the English second tier which could have ended his dreams of playing top-class football.
However, showing with the Black Stars in South Africa secured him the move to AC Milan but one year later he angered Ghanaians by quitting the national team with a flimsy excuse.
Since then he has refused to comment on the role Ghana played in helping him get the move to AC Milan but for the first time he has admitted his association with the Black Stars three years ago made his a world class player.
“Only three years ago I realised what I am capable of and what level I could reach,” Boateng conceded and revealed that he didn’t have any focus before he played for Ghana.
“Beforehand I was only a football player, I loved to play football but I was a child, I was young and I did many things you shouldn’t do. So what could I say to a young player? It is difficult.
“If you are thrown into a pool full of money and you are playing in front of 80,000 people, it isn’t easy, it wasn’t easy for me. It was difficult.
“The only thing I can recommend is to keep your feet on the ground and keep working hard. That is the most important thing.”
Boateng’s decision to retire from the Black Stars generated anger with many accusing him of being opportunistic by using and dumping the national team.
The Ghana international is enjoying a purple patch, having scored twice in his past three matches – including the crucial first goal in their round-of-16 first-leg victory over Barcelona in the Champions League.
Do you think Ghana should go and beg KP Bopateng again? Make your views known in the box below
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Apoooo….beg him my ass. Ghana as a nation cannot stoop so low. We have better players. He can go to hell. We will not beg any player to serve mother Ghana. These players are unpatriotic. All tye players who will not play for Ghana ca go and burn the sea. Mtweewww………..
@Ijahman, did you say you have better players? Who are they? Is it Derrick Boateng, Emmanuel Clottey etc who were useless in the Afcon. Look, although i don’t support Kevin’s retirement from Bs but i can tell you that there is no midfielder in Ghana better than Kevin. Gfa pls settle the differences once more & it will work.
This means you dont know your soccer very well Bros Ghanas problem is about fair selection if and when we decide to call players on merit then i bet my last penny that we can get somebody who will play better than him KPB.
@ Mini ok333, u dont know ur soccer either, the person went for his coaching course n he says the afcon players is the best ghana had… If u r a coach den why did the fa went in for kwesi appiah . Name a single ghanaian player better than kpb at the moment both local n international
FOCUS ON THE ROOT CAUSES OF CORRUPTION N BRIBERY AT THE GFA N GET A RESPECTED, RESULTS ORIENTED COACH.
He already said…he will never play for unqualified kumasi coach who does NOT have UEFA COACHING LICENSE.wise up^
@ansong, get ur facts right Kwasi Appiah is Not an ashanti n does not come from kumasi, he is from BA, i wonder how u got ur Ansong.
did he mention Ghana in the interview? I dont see it oooooooooo,hmmmm ghanasoccernet
It amuses me if I hear people say things like Ghana cannot stoop so low to players, we have better players and all that. It tells me most of us football lovers in this country dont know how some of our players are treated behind the scene by the GFA. It’s pathetic, we better pray issues are dealt with before the worst happens to our game where more players resign and those we persuade abroad refuse to switch nationality to play for Ghana. The players deserve the best of treatment from these GFA officials. A word to the wise is enough.
enough of those Boateng bullshit!he reached where he’s now due to hardwork,so u guys better spare him!how many opportunity haven’t those virtus managed players Prince of woes tagoe,jet kunfu addy,Adiyiah,inkoom and the rest getting from Ghana?yet they’re all struggling!he had his chance and took it.if u guys have anything better say,just advise players took take a cue from kpb and stop hating!!soccernet is not like it was before since the appointment of saanie
My brother…..GOD BLESS YOU!
Boateng fought hard to get to where he is. Opportunity came and he took it. JUST THAT SIMPLE!!! Many of our players has gone on trials, loans and etc. But failed to make impact. Now ppl wants to insult Boateng because he took his opportunity.
kpb didnt come lobbying to play for black stars, it was the fa who mounted persistent persuading tactics for him to change his nationality to feature for the black stars.he is a german and a ghanaian so he cant love one country more than the other so why this unpatroitic insults on him…in life u use wht u have to get wht u want.. he used his chance well in the black stars catapulting him to feature for one of the best team in europe through his hard work and consistency at the world cup tourny..if he was a bad player and was going to relegation then why didnt the fa scout for home based talents but had to waste tym to convince him to change his nationality?? stop being hypocrites and criticize constructively..is he the only ghanaian player who retired frm black stars?? Wht abt essien??
GOD BLESS YOUUUUUUUUUU
THANK YOUOOOOOOOO!!!, We have better players??? WHERE ARE THEY???? ONCE AGAIN vybz THANK YOU VERY MUCH, YOU SAID IT ALL!!!!
Why ask this childish question ?
Yet to read in the article where he mentioned Ghana.
it is u who is childish …comment abt the thread moron
dis are not de fault of de players but de managment.so if kpb makes up his mind to return to de BS we must be happy, afterall is he not faaar better than de gyans,Derickbs,dat we have now?? we need to luk into de managment n stop insulting de players
ghanaoccernet should start treating ghanaians with dignity and respect. why do we have to stop @ 1point ang never move forward?. or reading from ur web page is a mistake?,please 56 years in football is not a joke so you shouldn’t take us for peanut. please,educate us about new talents and stop this kpb busines, we are better than that
GSN, There u go again about Ghana making Prince Boateng a world class player. We did not, pure and simple. He had How many games did KPB play for Ghana before that world cup?..Yet you all saw his contribution to the black stars.He is where he is because of hardwork so please stop this patronizing attitude. We gave him a platform which he took advantage of….Look at long some of our black stars players have played for Ghana;some even played in the same world cup with KPB, but where are they now? They are retrogressing. If merely playing for Ghana makes one a world class player, then can more than half of the black stars players will be world class by now. 98% of the “world class” is through individual hardwork, the rest is a rub off effect of the players around you.
@Mini Ok333, you are rather a day old in soccer.just mention a single player better than Kpb in Blackstars or Ghana in general.
Aba ghana y shld we beg kpb for?After all is he bigger than ghana?If we beg him,he wil not even play well for our nation
Here we go again with the begging shit..Emmanuel frimpong is better than him.
masa u shud anything for kpb to play for BS again,which Ghanaian player is beta dan kpb recently huh!
where did he mention GHANA? SHOW ME!
KPB should come back to the Black Stars, for in 4 years he will be a surplus to requirement both to club and country.
If Essien, Muntari, John Mensah, KPB, Abeyie misses this 2014 world Cup, this is their last chance, it will be late to play in any world cup for Ghana due to age. Wise up guys, NOW, NOW.