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Issahaku: Tanko wants Ghana opportunities for Salzburg-linked teenage prodigy
The Black Stars B head coach has a word for the A side boss concerning the Steadfast FC attacker
Ghana B coach Ibrahim Tanko has urged A team boss CK Akonnor to give new kid on the block Abdul Fatawu Issahaku more opportunities to show his worth at the highest level.
Shortly after winning the Best Player award at the Africa U20 Cup of Nations tournament in Tanzania last month where the Black Satellites won the cup, the 17-year-old was quickly handed a maiden senior Ghana call-up ahead of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying double-header against South Africa and Sao Tome.
The attacker, however, failed to make Akonnor's final squad for the back-to-back games, instead being dropped to Tanko's B team for a friendly fixture away at Uzbekistan where he scored Ghana's only goal in the match.
“Fatawu has the quality and he has to join the Black Stars," Tanko, whose side suffered a 2-1 defeat to Uzbekistan in last month's friendly, told Happy FM.
“We have to nurture him because the talent is huge. I have known him since his days at Shooting Stars before I came to meet him again at the national U17 team and U23 team.
“They played a game at McDan Park [in Accra] and I was discussing with the technical director how well they can play him, and [Ghana U20] coach Karim Zito went to play him very wisely at the tournament.
“All I pray for him is to stay fit because to be great you have to be fit and if he is fit, he will go very far.”
Currently playing club football for second-tier side Steadfast FC in his country, Issahaku's prominence began when he captained Ghana's U17 side to the Wafu Zone B Cup of Nations in Togo.
Back from the tournament, he was promptly promoted to the U20 side for the U20 Afcon in March, where he scored twice to help Ghana win the tournament.
He could be handed a second senior Ghana call-up for the 2022 World Cup qualifying double-header against Ethiopia and South Africa in June.
