Tariq Lamptey of Brighton, Mohammed Salisu of Southampton, and Inaki Williams of Athletic Club are now eligible to play for Ghana at the international level. Kurt Edwin Simeon-Okraku, the president of the Ghana FA, issued a statement confirming the news.
"We have always maintained that we will not limit ourselves to only a small group of players but would scout top talents across the globe who are ready to sacrifice for the nation and take us to the next level", the statement read.
London-born Lamptey represented England at the junior level, whereas Bilbao-born Williams played for Spain once in his international career. In addition, Ghana have also added defender Mohammed Salisu who still hasn't featured for any senior national team.
Why Inaki Williams, Tariq Lamptey, and Mohammed Salisu want to play for Ghana
As the Ghanian national team prepare to compete in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, this news is a huge boost. The trio is now eligible to appear at the World Cup in November, where they will face Portugal, Uruguay, and South Korea in Group H. Three more German-based players have committed to the Black Stars ahead of the Qatar 2022: Stephen Ambrosius, Ransford-Yeboah Konigsdorffer, and Patric Pfeiffer.
When England's U21 team faced the Czech Republic, Albania, Kosovo, and Slovenia in the 2022 Euro Qualifiers in May, Lamptey requested to be removed from the team. While boss Lee Carsley indicated he would respect his desires, he also emphasized how vital he was to the squad at the moment.
His choice comes at a time when England's senior squad already has a lot of high-profile possibilities in his position, such as Trent Alexander-Arnold, Kyle Walker, Kieran Trippier, Reece James, and co. It's grown increasingly frequent for players to defect from The Three Lions in recent years, with Wilfried Zaha's departure to Ivory Coast serving as a notable example, but they have also just lost Bayern's Jamal Musiala to Germany.
Meanwhile, to play for Spain, Inaki Williams dedicated his life and even represented the country at a young level. But he was turned down after making his senior international debut for La Roja in 2015, a 3-1 victory over Bosnia in a friendly match. Now he has been given the opportunity to wear the Black Stars jersey instead.
