Officials of the Ghana Football Association maybe chasing the wind with respect to convincing Brighton and Hove Albion right wing-back, Tariq-Kwame Nii Lante Lamptey to switch his allegiance to play for the Black Stars at the World Cup.
Prior to the two-leg qualifying match between the Black Stars of Ghana and the Super Eagles of Nigeria, names of foreign born Ghanaian footballers were reportedly flying around in the media for nationality switch. Included in the names were, Chelsea's Callum Hudson-Odoi, Crystal Palace's Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, Arsenal's Eddie Nketiah, Einctracht Frankfurt's Ansgar Knauff and Brighton and Hove Albion's Tariq Lamptey.
Tariq Lamptey's team last weekend in their Premier league campaign defeated rivals Tottenham Hotspurs in the dying minutes of that game and earned all the three points.
21-year-old Tariq Lamptey played 82 minutes of the game before Leandro Trossands scored the winning goal in the 90th minute.
Speaking to the media after the game on the allegiance switch, the young player said,
"I am not yet sure. I have to just keep focusing on my club football. Take a game by game then we'll see".
His comment has generated a lot of controversy among Ghanaians which has started a conversation about focusing on the local league players and grooming them for national team call-ups.
Tariq Lamptey was born in England to Ghanaian parents and has featured in the junior side of the England team. He was the fastest player in the 2020/2021season in Europe with a speed of 36.6km/h.