Head coach of the senior national team, the Black Stars of Ghana, Jame Akwasi Appiah has reiterated that midfielders Mubarak Wakaso and Afriyie Acquah refused to travel with the team for the friendlies against Japan and Iceland due to issues about appearance fee.
The duo took part in the five days training session in Accra and was suppose to travel with the Black Stars to Tokyo for the double-header against Japan and Iceland but opted out of the squad after they were told they would receive an appearance fee of 2,000 for each game instead of the usual 5,000 fee per friendly.
Players of the Black Stars will now pocket $4,000 each for the two friendly games.
Reports emerged that the Torino midfielder later decided to make a U-turn to join the team in Japan on his own but couldn’t make it due to flight issues.
Coach Appiah, who was left frustrated with the decision of the players not to travel with the team, confirmed to 442gh.com that the players opted out of the trip because the appearance fee was slashed.
“Unfortunately we were all supposed to leave Ghana for this friendly game but they opted out of the team with reasons being that the allowances being paid is not what they expected.”
“The two of them being senior players in the team thought it’s important that they’ve been spoken to by Osei Parma before such arrangements. Their argument was that Parma didn’t talk back to them so they felt that they’ve been ignored.”
“Personally I think they should have told me that due to these circumstances they won’t travel with the team.”