Sheikh Tophic Sienu, a member of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) Communications Team, has indicated that a patient approach to integrating players from the Ghana Premier League (GPL) into the Black Stars is the best way forward.

He made this submission in the lead up to Ghana’s Unity Cup game against Nigeria at the G-Tech Community Stadium in England.

Ghana lost 2-1 to Nigeria in the four nation tournament that had Black Stars head coach Otto Addo include four players from the GPL in the 23 man squad including Kumasi Asante Kotoko striker Kwame Opoku and Accra Hearts of Oak goalkeeper Benjamin Asare.

However, a significant section of the Ghanaian football space believe that more players from the GPL should have been called up to the squad.

“For proponents of the GPL, it is understandable that they will call for more players in the team. What we need to understand is that it’s a transitional plan, you can’t get 20, 15, 10 players straight from the local league into the Black Stars, it’s a gradual process. We just need to give the coach the time to build the team that he wants to build” Tophic Sienu said.

All four GPL players in the squad started in Ghana’s loss to Nigeria.