Sulley Muntari has revealed in a fresh interview why he declined to extend his contract with the Phobians after helping Accra Hearts of Oak win the FA Cup and enabling the team to qualify for the 2022–2023 CAF Confederations Cup.
The six-month contract with Hearts was terminated after contract renewal negotiations fell through. The former AC Milan and Inter Milan player has at last revealed the rationale for his decision to decline Hearts’ contract renewal.
In his words, he said he made certain recommendations for how to strengthen the team for their African campaign but these proved fruitless. He then added that since he never wanted to ruin his reputation, he opted out of the team.
He shared this thought when he spoke to Dan Kwaku Yeboah TV in an interview.
“Yeah, I had a few talks with them(Kotoko) I spoke to some board members because I wanted to help them in Africa. (But) I was with Hearts of Oak at that time. My contract had run out and I was talking with them to build a very, very strong team.
I didn’t want to go and disgrace myself in the African campaign. If you qualify for the CAF Champions League or any other CAF competition or even Europe, you prepare for that. You augment the squad that you qualified with some good players and build the team.”
“So I was talking with Hearts to build the team but the management had different ideas. And if someone has a different idea, although you tell them to do stuff, if they don’t want to do it, you don’t push it. I’ll tell you the truth, I didn’t want to go and disgrace myself.
And I know I’ve really worked hard in terms of football, so for me to come and let some little things wipe all the work that I’ve done, no. I won’t do it, no. So I was talking with Kotoko about the same(thing),” he added.
He clarified that his attempt to join Kotoko was not because Hearts failed to adopt his suggested models.
“It is not because Hearts didn’t do as I said that’s why I wanted to go to Kotoko, no. But even if it’s second division, it’s the same mentality I would come up with, so you can build a strong team. Because the moment you build a strong team, the following year you can sell two or three players then you get money then you build the team again. Most of the teams we played in Europe that’s what they do.”