Brighton defender Tariq Lamptey is set to make his decision to play for Ghana’s Black Stars official after arriving in the country to meet with the team’s technical staff.
Lamptey and his father are currently in Ghana, where they will meet Black Stars coach Otto Addo and the rest of the technical staff, which includes former Premier League coach Chris Hughton.
The 21-year-old has decided to play for Ghana, and the meeting is simply to formally communicate his decision and make himself available for future assignments, Ghanasoccernet.com can report.
The right-back is expected to attend the Black Stars’ 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against Madagascar at the Cape Coast Stadium on Wednesday, June 1, 2022.
This comes after Lamptey turned down an invitation to play for the England U21 side, with the team’s coach Lee Carsley revealing Lamptey was seriously considering playing for Ghana.
Lamptey was contacted by Ghana in 2020 but made his England Under-21 debut later that year.
“He’s asked to be left out of the squad for a bit of head space,” said Carsley.
“He’s not switched, it’s not cemented or anything like that but he’s had an approach, we respect that.
“We’ve made it clear how important we see him to us. I know the senior team has as well.
“Tariq is fully aware of how important we see him – I have rung him every day!
“I probably shouldn’t have, I probably pushed him. You can only make it clear so many times. He knows where we stand with him. We respect he’s got a decision to make.”
Lamptey, who has two Under-21 caps, qualifies for Ghana through his parents and has also played for England Under-18s and Under-19s.
The former Chelsea full-back started 16 times for Brighton in the Premier League in the 2021-22 season and made a further 14 appearances as a substitute.
Credit: Ghanasoccernet
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