Meet the Ghanaian workforce who may very well be about to profit Chelsea!

While Premier League academies battle to provide children sufficient expertise to deal with the tough realities {of professional} soccer, one membership in Africa managed by an Englishman has give you a radical answer, and Chelsea could also be about to profit.

Accra Lions of the Ghanaian Premier League recurrently area a first-team with a mean age of 19 to battle-harden their youth gamers towards males with factors and livelihoods at stake.

German World Cup winner Lothar Matthaus is the proprietor and the unlikely determine within the sizzling seat is James Francis of Essex, who began out life as a youth coach at David Beckham’s first junior membership, Ridgeway Rovers.

‘We scout the best players, develop them and hope they get the opportunities to one day go and play in Europe, Asia or America,’ says Francis explaining the undertaking.

The newest off the manufacturing line, David Oduro, is being assessed on trial by Chelsea this week with the Ghanaian League closing down for AFCON.

One of the sights of the left-back is that he is already performed 40 senior video games and received 4 caps for Ghana under-20s on the age of 17.

It suits in with the philosophy of Accra Lions in fast-tracking younger expertise as Francis outlines.

‘The aim is to give them a complete footballing education, the competitive side as well as technical.

‘What is the point of learning the skill if you can’t then produce it underneath strain. We are predominantly an under-18s workforce competing towards a lot older opponents,’ he says.

‘And if our players do make it to Europe, they can deal with it because they’ve had at an early age, that have of dealing with stronger gamers and having followers shout at them.’

The bulk of the Accra Lions workforce are 16 or 17. Even their goalkeeper is just 18.

After 17 video games of this season, they’ve received and drawn 5 video games and sit a good twelfth within the 18-team division.

Francis is an unlikely first-team boss. His solely earlier expertise within the skilled recreation in England was a five-month stint teaching within the academy at Cambridge United.

The 41-year-old had by no means been to Africa earlier than being really helpful by an American buddy Lee Kellett who had enterprise pursuits there.

It’s honest to say he’s settled properly, residing across the nook from the coaching floor with a younger daughter in worldwide faculty and if he needs a slice of England, he can pop into the Honeysuckle pub in Accra with its rooster and chips menu and Premier League soccer on the TV.

‘They say there are three religions in Ghana. Christianity, Islam and football. They love the game and our players have a real thirst to improve,’ he displays.

‘As a coach I’ve all the time studied Pep Guardiola and I like watching Brighton with Roberto De Zerbi’s philosophy.

‘When I heard Lothar Matthaus was buying a stake, it was like “Wow”. He came over and had a long chat with the players stressing the importance of having the right mindset and believing in what you’re doing and in your team-mates.

‘Most teams in Ghana are strong and direct. We try to play possession and build from the back. There are setbacks of course when results don’t go your method and we had a relegation battle final season however Lothar and the homeowners know what they need to construct.

‘Premier League soccer continues to be enormous. Chelsea are well-supported due to Essien although the followers have a distinct angle to being a supporter. Some can have a favorite workforce and a second and a 3rd. They get confused as a result of I assist Arsenal and no one else.

‘We’ve obtained one participant who’s a Man United fan however turned as much as coaching someday in a Liverpool high. I needed to inform him you wouldn’t get that in England!’

Travel to away video games is by coach relatively than airplane, the longest being 12 hours depending on the state of the roads. Hughton has been over to look at Ghanaian Premier League video games and the nation was within the information lately when an MP needed to apologise for mocking Harry Maguire in Parliament.

Manchester United’s Kobbie Mannoo is of curiosity due to his Ghanaian heritage and the nation’s coverage of spreading the online and making an attempt to get gamers of twin nationality to play for the Black Stars, as Brighton’s Tariq Lamptey has executed.

Francis doesn’t know if he’ll be a kind of English managers who all the time works overseas or if he’ll get a shot again house in some unspecified time in the future. ‘I see it as a great journey,’ he says. But when it comes to giving youth its likelihood, he’s already a trailblazer.