Ghana Black Stars deputy coach, Ibrahim Tanko has paid a working visit to Bayern Munich young sensation Kwesi Okyere Wreidt in Germany over the weekend.
The visit afforded the Ghanaian trainer an opportunity to interact with the Hamburg-born striker who is been touted a prospective replacement for Polish striker Robert Lewandowski.
The visit forms part of strategies by the technical team of the Black Stars to monitor, interact and in Wreidt's case, convince him to throw his allegiance to Ghana.
Tanko will also visit Belgium, Netherlands, and Australia where he will meet Ghanaian players and their clubs.
Wriedt, a German with Ghanaian heritage, started out at his home city first with the youth team at Concordia Hamburg and then St.Pauli, initially with the juniors and then with St.Pauli II in the Regionalliga Nord.
At 1.87m tall, Wriedt is a powerful striker with pace to boot. He’s naturally two-footed and is not just an out-and-out goal-getter — he is a provider as well.
Eighteen goals in 22 Regionalliga games for Tim Walter’s Bayern II have given new Bayern trainer Jupp Heynckes the confidence to put Wriedt on the bench for the recent Bundesliga clashes with both SC Freiburg and Hamburg.
He was again named amongst the substitutes for the Cup clash with Leipzig and was as surprised as most when Jupp Heynckes sent him on in the 101st minute to replace Thiago. It was almost an inspired switch as the striker hit the bar with a header three minutes after his introduction.
Due to his exploits, there is a justification for Bayern’s decision not to splash out on an expensive Robert Lewandowski back-up in the summer.
It is yet to be revealed whether the youngster will choose to represent Ghana at the international level with the African Cup qualifiers approaching, but his decision could prove significant for coach Kwesi Appiah.
The Black Stars coach is seeking to build a formidable young squad for the 2019 African Cup and 2022 Qatar World Cup.
Ghana | Atinkaonline.com