President of the Ghana Football Association, Kurk Okraku has reiterated his administration’s desire to win the Africa Cup of Nations trophy for the country. Ghana has not won the Nations Cup for over three decades but has come close in recent years, with two finals in 2010 and 2015. The FA Capo, who is celebrating a year in office, indicated the main goal of his administration will be to end the trophy drought. “My desire and the desire of every member of my administration and Ghanaians is to win the Africa Cup of Nations,” he told Kumasi based Nhyira FM. “As a nation, we’ll do whatever possible, to win the trophy again,” he added. The Black Stars are currently top of Group C of the Nations Cup qualifiers for 2022, after beating South Africa and Sao Tome in their opening two games. They will next face Sudan in a double header of game in November when the qualifiers return. Please kindly contact apexnewsgh.com on apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications

Representative of Mesut Ozil, Dr Erkut Sogut has slammed ‘classless’ Arsenal, suggesting that the sacking of the club’s iconic mascot coupled with the laying off 55 workers at the club was to create financial space for the signing of Thomas Partey. The Gunners were in news for the bad reasons just days ahead of the start of the 2020/21 Premier League campaign. The financial fallout from the Coronavirus saw Arsenal sack famous Gunnersaurus mascot which drew the ire of a section of their fans. Prior to iconic Gunnersaurus sacking, the club had made 55 staff redundant as part of cost-cutting measures at the Emirates Stadium outfit. According to Ozil’s agent, Sogut, Arsenal lacks class due to some terrible decisions they had to take before finalizing the signing of Ghana midfielder Thomas Partey. Arsenal had a long-standing interest in Partey after manager Mikel Arteta made the 27-year-old his top target before the window was opened. The Club had to wait until deadline day before paying the player’s release clause of £45 million after several attempts to have the price reduce failed. Partey finally joined the club on a five-year deal for from Atlético Madrid on the final of the transfer market. In an interview with ESPN, Sogut indicated: “You wouldn’t expect a club with class to make 55 people redundant just after winning the FA Cup or sacking a mascot after 27 years of service, just before making a £45 million signing [of Thomas Partey],” “And it doesn’t help if people from outside the club speak on their behalf. It, unfortunately, gives a very bad picture of the club which we are not used to having at a team like Arsenal. “I would be very concerned for any club if someone repeatedly spoke on their behalf and clearly had a significant influence on and off the pitch.” Ozil’s career at Arsenal is effectively over after he was omitted from the club’s Premier League and Europa League squads. However, Arteta has insisted that the Ozil decision was based solely on football decisions Meanwhile, reports indicate that Ozil’s resistance to taking a pay-cut during the COVID-19 lockdown, as well as his activism over the treatment of Uighurs in China, have been speculated as potential reasons. Ghana Soccernet Please kindly contact apexnewsgh.com on apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications

An 8-year-old boy who follows Ghana football on the television in the Upper East Region because he admires Asamoah Gyan has taken his attention off playing soccer with friends for now because his 26-year-old mother is seriously sick and helpless. The boy, Albert Aburipoore, learned his mother, Susana, was dying with a chronic kidney disease after she had been to four health facilities in the region before she was finally referred to the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) in the Northern Region where she has been on haemodialysis (a blood-purifying process) since 2019. “We visited Annicom (a private health facility). Annicom suspected fibroid. From there, we went to the Amiah Hospital. I was told I had diabetes and was admitted there. We also assumed it was fibroid; so, we went to Dr Razak’s private facility. Dr Razak said he didn’t see anything wrong with me; he said he only saw my intestines and liver turning around inside my stomach,” Susana said (with a very faint voice) during Starr News’ visit to their impoverished home at Sirigu, a quiet community in the Kassena-Nankana West District. Her husband, Atingane, added: “In the beginning, we thought it was pregnancy. Several tests were run at the Upper East Regional Hospital. Nothing was found after the tests had been done. Later, they diagnosed diabetes. We visited a number of facilities. Her legs and stomach were swollen. As she was not recovering, we went back to the regional hospital. They (the regional hospital) referred us to the Tamale Teaching Hospital.” “Asamoah Gyan is my idol. But it has been difficult to play football outside there with friends and be happy even when you score a goal or when your team wins when you always remember your mother is weeping at home because she is not well and your dad is sad because he is too poor to help her. I feel it is better to always stay around her even if I cannot help her,” the boy said. Sick Susana spends Gh¢900 every week to survive The troubled couple owns a small farm near a forested hill in the mostly green community. The family depends on that smallholder farmstead for a scanty livelihood. The TTH takes Gh¢300 from Susana three times a week— which is Gh¢900 every seven days— to keep her alive through haemodialysis. “She [also requires] getting an arteriovenous fistula (permanent vascular access) for dialysis which is done in Accra or Kumasi at a cost of Gh¢1,500. The ultimate treatment for Madam Susana’s condition is kidney transplant which is mainly done outside Ghana at an estimated cost of $35,000 and $45,000,” the Head of the TTH’s Medical Social Work Unit, Alhaji Braimah Saaka, says in an appeal-for-fund letter. The letter states further: “The Medical Social Work Unit of the Tamale Teaching Hospital is a department which appeals to organisations, religious bodies, co-operative institutions and individuals to help vulnerable patients. We are, therefore, counting on your support, be it cash or kind, to help save the life of this woman.” The family has sold out everything— livestock, harvests and even clothes inherited from grandparents— to pay Gh¢300 three times a week at the TTH to sustain her life. “It is even worse today after we have sold all our possessions. Today, we contact friends for support. We have been appealing to people at marketplaces, funeral grounds and other places. Even getting money to pay our transport fares to Tamale is sometimes difficult. “At times, whilst we are on our way to the TTH, we are still contacting those we know to not forget about us. We have so far reached out to about 95% of the people we know to keep going in this situation. We have covered about 95% of them in search of help,” said Albert’s father with grief in the tone of his voice. He furnished Starr News with a copy of the appeal-for-fund letter from the TTH and gave out his mobile-money account details as “0248223870, Atingane Aburipoore” in an appeal for public assistance in support of the ailing mother of his football-loving only son. Starrfm Please kindly contact Apexnewsgh.com on Email: apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications

Former Chelsea FC and Ghana manager Avram Grant has said Thomas Partey has become a better player for his great talent and the right mentality. Grant, who gave new Arsenal star his first Ghana cap in 2017 is impressed with Partey’s growth in all areas of his game. Partey completed a move to Arsenal FC on the transfer deadline day last week in a deal worth €50 million from Atletico Madrid. “When you have the talent and the right mentality and the coach gives you the chance to play, you will improve. He has the talent for sure and the right mentality and also he likes to learn,” Grant told TV 3. “He has improved in all areas of the game. First on the understanding of the game, position; where to be, which is more important.” The former Premier League manager says a player has to be versatile and productive due to the tactical variations in football. Grant claims Partey had been in that mould before his move to English Premier League giants Arsenal. “Today, many coaches understand tactics but not many understand what it really means; when to be in the right position, when to be move forward, when to move back, which is more crucial because the game is more quickly and physical and he improving lot means not giving the ball away and also the physical side, so he has improved in all aspects of the game. “In the beginning, he didn’t score more goals now he is scoring more goals and giving more assists, he is like a modern player. “Football is going to change, it needs players who are more versatile, players who can do many things on the pitch and he is one of them.” Please kindly contact Apexnewsgh.com on Email: apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications

Ex Black Stars Asamoah Gyan’s business manager Samuel Anim Addo has said the speculation that the Ghana striker is demanding an amount of $500,000 [€426,530] from Asante Kotoko before joining the local giants are false. He said Asamoah Gyan has been without a club since January, has been heavily linked to the Porcupine Warriors ahead of the commencement of the 2020-21 football season in November. Rumours of an imminent move have been heavily fueled by the 34-year-old’s long-held dream of wearing the Kotoko jersey before calling time on his playing career. He played for Liberty Professionals before leaving the domestic league for Italian side Udinese in 2003, but the Kumasi-based outfit is the most successful club in the history of the Premier League, having won 23 titles. “I don’t know where the news is coming from –  that Gyan is demanding such an amount,” Anim Addo told Angel FM. “And even if that is the case, how many supporters do Kotoko have? Kotoko has about 10 million fans and if they should secure the services of Gyan and sell one of his replica [jerseys] for GHC10 [€1.5], what will be the benefit? “You look at the marketability, promotion wise and benefits he can make for the club. “The number of goals he will provide has not been mentioned and to me we should look at the positives of bringing such a player to the club, finding a strategy to get him, let him be in the game, and let us all benefit.” Gyan’s last club spell was a four-month stint with Indian Super League side NorthEast United between September last year and January this year. “Kotoko have said they like him because he once stated that he’ll one day play for Kotoko, but for now, no club has approached him with any offer,” Anim Addo told Graphic Sports in August. “Gyan has had offers from Europe and Asia but if Kotoko can meet our terms, then why not?” Gyan has also previously played club football for Italian side Modena, Rennes in France, Al Ain and Al Ahli Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Shanghai SIPG in China and Turkish fold Kayserispor. The veteran striker is currently Ghana’s all-time most-capped player and all-time top scorer with 109 Black Stars appearances and 51 goals. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana Please kindly contact APEXNEWSGH on Email: apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible News publication.