As far as Sulley Muntari is concerned, it is often felt as though his best moment have happened outside the spotlight, and his worst moments have been the ones capturedâ⬔in vivid technicolourâ⬔in the media glare.
Take, for example, the 2014 World Cup, when amidst the unhappy headlines that came Ghanaââ¬â¢s wayâ⬔Adam Kwaraseyââ¬â¢s strop and John Boyeââ¬â¢s fistful of dollarsâ⬔Muntariââ¬â¢s own contribution, headbutting a Black Stars committee memberà on a hotel balcony, was a miserable nadir.
The tenacious midfielder was subsequently sent home, his international career put on iceâ⬔where it remains to this day.
Here is a player, however, who is one of only 18 African players in history to have lifted the Champions League. Muntariââ¬â¢s role in Internazionaleââ¬â¢s triumph that seasonâ⬔both his 15-minute cameo in the final and his sterling performances for Jose Mourinhoââ¬â¢s side up to that pointâ⬔is rarely brought out for consideration and given the airing it deserves.
Similarly, his performances in both of Interââ¬â¢s title triumphsâ⬔in 2009 and 2010â⬔are barely given the same attention as Michael Essienââ¬â¢s comparable successes for Chelsea, for example, or even Kwadwo Asamoahââ¬â¢s recent performances as part of Antonio Conteââ¬â¢s fine Juventus side.
Yet Muntari managed 27 league appearances in both of those title-winning campaigns.
No one need to be told just how ruthless Mourinho can beâ⬔just ask Juan Cuadrado or Filipe Luisâ⬔but in Muntari he found a player who could fit his model, who could operate in multiple positions, who would run all day and who could understand and fit the coachââ¬â¢s tactical plan.
Yet no one ever talks about it.
For a player who made over 60 league appearances for each of the Milan giants, and who made as big a contribution as anyone to Portsmouthââ¬â¢s 2008 FA Cup triumph (who could forget that penalty against Manchester United in the sixth round?), he receives remarkably short shrift.
With his recent move to Al Ittihad, Muntari is destined to spend the final peak years of his career outside the limelight thatâ⬦in my opinionâ⬦he rightly deserves.
It was inevitable that the former Sunderland man would leave Milan this summer, having been declared surplus to requirements and apparently burned his bridges with the Rossoneri.
If reports are to be believed, the midfielder had the option of moving to Schalke and trying his hand in the Bundesliga, of joining Galatasarayâ⬔and receiving all that life in Istanbul entailsâ⬔and of moving to England, where Everton and Hull City were reportedly interested.
Indeed, there was also talk of a switch to Major League Soccerâ⬔and the glitz and glamour that a career in the United States could bringâ⬔although I personally questioned whether a switch to MLS at 30 would represent a premature abdication from the central narratives of the world game.
Ultimately, while a move to Major League Soccer would have ensured that Muntari remained relevant, a switch to Al Ittihadâ⬔who finished fourth in the Saudi Professional League last seasonâ⬔may well bring an early close to Sulleyââ¬â¢s time in the spotlight.
In Saudi Arabia, he will rub shoulders with the likes of Paul Aloââ¬â¢o, Fabian Estoyanoff and Thiago Nevesâ⬔three of the divisionââ¬â¢s more high-profile foreigners. The first enjoyed a modest career in French football, most notably for Nancy, while the striker managed less than a dozen Cameroon appearances, without scoring a goal.
Estoyanoff drifted around the Spanish and Greek leagues before returning to Penarol in his homeland when he ought to have been in his prime.
Thiago Neves arrived to Hamburg as a potential replacement for Rafael van der Vaart, only to return home to Brazil after nine league games.
Is Muntari not selling himself short moving to compete against such figures?
None of those aforementioned stars have ever contested the latter stages of the Champions League, let alone won Europeââ¬â¢s grandest prize and two major league titles.
I suspect Muntari will be a success in Saudi Arabia, but I am confident that had he given himself two or three more years in the European rat race, he could have added another glorious chapter to his careerâ⬔given the right circumstances.
As it stands, this underappreciated playerâ⬔one of the finest Africans of his generationâ⬔looks set to spend the Autumn of his career in the deserts of Arabia.
Source: Ed Dove, Goal.comÃ