{"id":1054416,"date":"2022-04-12T23:18:08","date_gmt":"2022-04-12T23:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/04\/12\/ex-ghana-captain-backs-salisu-for-black-stars-call-up\/"},"modified":"2022-04-12T23:18:08","modified_gmt":"2022-04-12T23:18:08","slug":"ex-ghana-captain-backs-salisu-for-black-stars-call-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/04\/12\/ex-ghana-captain-backs-salisu-for-black-stars-call-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Ghana captain backs Salisu for Black Stars call up"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"td-post-featured-image\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"671\" class=\"entry-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2021-10-29-at-11.29.29-696x671.jpeg\"   alt=\"Mohammed Salisu\" title=\"Mohammed Salisu\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mohammed Salisu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Legendary Ghana striker Asamoah Gyan would welcome Southampton defender Mohammed Salisu into the Black Stars set-up ahead of the World Cup should the centre-back avail himself for national duty.<\/p>\n<p>The 22-year-old, who has refused to play for Ghana, has become a major subject of discussion, particularly following the Black Stars\u2019 qualification for the global showpiece.<\/p>\n<p>Although he has turned down invitations to the national team so far, there have been reports that the World Cup qualification is likely to soften his stand. However, a section of Ghana fans have questioned the player\u2019s level of commitment to the country and if he deserves a place in the squad to Qatar.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy not, he is not only the best defender in the Premiership, but the Premiership is also the best league in the world,\u201d Gyan said on\u00a0Peace FM\u00a0when asked whether the Southampton man should be considered for the World Cup.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/22191989129,1002554\/MGL\/mgl_ado_atunwa_300x250 --><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf he is rated among the top three defenders, definitely he is eligible to play for the national team if only he is in the plans of the coach and he [Salisu] has it in his mind to play [for the country].<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ ALSO<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cDefinitely, he should be ready for the national team, but it will depend on him and the technical team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of their World Cup qualifying play-off clash with Nigeria last month, Ghana caretaker boss Otto Addo held another\u00a0meeting with Salisu\u00a0with the intention to convince the defender to change his mind.<\/p>\n<p>The centre-back, however, rejected the call one more time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI watch him as a fan because he is doing well at Southampton,\u201d Gyan added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think he is one of the top three defenders in the Premier League and he being a Ghanaian, I think he is selling the country.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe is performing well but I don\u2019t know if he wants to play for the national team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Salisu has been hailed as one of the best defenders in the Premier League this season, as he currently stands as the player with the most interceptions so far.<\/p>\n<p>He has made 29 league appearances for the Saints this term, starting in all but one of the matches.<\/p>\n<p>            <!--  [embed]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=videoseries[\/embed]<!--\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>--><\/p>\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"f9fX5Q0U9n8\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Adom Kasiebo Tau on Adom TV at 1:55 (12-4-22)\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/f9fX5Q0U9n8?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mohammed Salisu Legendary Ghana striker Asamoah Gyan would welcome Southampton defender Mohammed Salisu into the Black Stars set-up ahead of the World Cup should the centre-back avail himself for national duty. The 22-year-old, who has refused to play for Ghana, has become a major subject of discussion, particularly following the Black Stars\u2019 qualification for the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":265599,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[3062,94,160,1099,399,3305,95],"class_list":["post-1054416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-backs","tag-black","tag-call","tag-captain","tag-exghana","tag-salisu","tag-stars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1054416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1054416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1054416\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1054416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1054416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1054416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}