Striker Kelvin Yeboah has implied that Ghana should stop disturbing him for a call-up to the Black Stars by establishing his European credentials, insisting he was raised in London and holds an Italian passport.
The nephew of Ghana legend Anthony Yeboah was speaking for the first time since snubbing the country of his birth and the country of his parents by rejecting a call-up to the Black Stars for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
The Austria-based attacker, who has been in blistering form for Sturm Graz in the top-flight, opted instead to join the blue jersey of the Italian U21 national team for the first time for their qualifiers for the 2023 European U21 Championships.
Ghana FA authorities had extensive talks with Kelvin, his family and legendary uncle Anthony for several months before the Black Stars called him up last month to play for the West African country at the start of the qualifiers.
Just one week after the Black Stars coach CK Akonnor called Kelvin Yeboah, the Italian U21 national team also handed him a call-up but Ghana retained their hopes in the player.
Ghana counted on the talks they had with the player, his heritage, his family and the influence of legend Anthony Yeboah but the striker snubbed all these efforts in favour of the junior national team of Italy.
Kelvin was eager to express his affinity for the Italians by revealing his connection to the European country while craftily refusing to talk about Ghana in his first statement since his call up.
“I came to Italy in 2004 when I was 4-5 years old, I got my passport for quite a while,” said Yeboah, who was born in the Ghanaian capital of Accra to Ghanaian parents before he they migrated to Italy.
“In terms of football, I played in Monza, Novara, then I went to Gozzano and then to West Ham. , finally in Austria in Tirol Innsbruck and now in Sturm Graz where I am playing the Europa League.
“As a boy I was very small and thin, I didn’t have much luck at the beginning and I decided to go to London. I grew up there, I learned other styles of play that have helped me in my career.
In a further dig as the attempts by Ghana to give him an international cap, revealed that he honed his football career in Italy and the English capital of London where he spent part of childhood.
“In Italy there is a lot of tactics. and as a child I was not very good tactically, in London they leave you more freedom to play and carry the ball, play one-on-one and have single matches on the pitch,” Kelvin Yeboah said when he was asked about his upbringing in his football career.
“I felt much better there, I have learned to manage my body better and to take advantage of my speed. In Austria we do a little more tactics but moving from Italy to England helped me a lot.”
The Sturm Graz player named his uncle among his heroes and insisted that he already feels at home with the Italian players after training with them for just two days.
“For Yeboah who, speaking of his idols, indicated Ronaldo, the Brazilian phenomenon, Cristiano Ronaldo, and his uncle Antony, this is the first call-up to the Azzurri Under 21.
“I already knew some of the players in this group as a child because I played against them,” explained Kelvin Yeboah.
“I got along very well with the team in the two or three training sessions so far, they are very good and well-mannered guys, even the coach and staff are very professional.”
The Italian Under 21 team will clash with Luxembourg on Friday at the Castellani di Empoli, in the qualifiers for the 2023 European Championships.
Credit: Ghanasoccernet
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