A former Minister of Sports, Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuye, has made a bold claim that Chelsea Football Club defender Joshua Kofi Acheampong is a better defender than the defenders in Ghana’s National Men’s Football Team, the Black Stars.
He made this bold statement in an exclusive interview on Channel One TV’s Face To Face in the face of serious resistance from many Ghanaians to exclude dual national players who didn’t feature in the Black Stars’ 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers from making the Black Stars’ World Cup bound roster.
Former Sports Minister Nii Lante Vanderpuye slammed this stance and while stating that a similar mindset prevented former Man United striker Danny Welbeck from joining the Black Stars, the former Member of Parliament for the Odododiodio Constituency stated that,
“We are making a mistake. We had the same opportunity when we had Gerard Asamoah…and he went and played for Germany.”
“We had the same opportunity with Daniel Welbeck…England fielded him against us and we lost him. Today, there is this boy playing for Chelsea, [Josh] Acheampong, to me, he is better than all our defenders. Bring him, he is a Ghanaian” Lante Vanderpuye said.
19 year old English-born Acheampong, who is of Ghanaian descent, scored his first Chelsea goal in the Blues 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest and is one of the highly rated young players in the English Premier League. Scroll down to watch video
Nii Lante Vanderpuye on inviting foreign nationals to the Black Stars🇬🇭
“Some people knew that if Welbeck had come, he would displace Asamoah Gyan so they stopped it..Today there’s this boy playing for Chelsea, Acheampong. To me, he’s better than all our defenders”#CitiSports pic.twitter.com/VQshuZNzdF
— Citi Sports (@CitiSportsGHA) October 22, 2025
