According to Spanish media outlet Marca, the 33-year old midfielder will train with the La Liga side over the next couple of weeks and will sign on a free transfer if he impresses.

Deportivo Head Coach is Muntari’s former team mate at AC Milan, Clarence Seedorf and he is desperately in need of central midfield options after failing to bring in players during the winter transfer window.

The 33-year old has been without a club since leaving Italian side Pescara at the end of last season.

Muntari has featured for some of Europe’s top sides including AC Milan and Inter Milan where he won the UEFA Champions league in 2010.

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By: Citi Sports

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According to Spanish media outlet Marca, the 33-year old midfielder will train with the La Liga side over the next couple of weeks, and will sign on a free transfer if he impresses.

Deportivo Head Coach is Muntari’s former team mate at AC Milan, Clarence Seedorf, and he is desperately in need of central midfield options after failing to bring in players during the winter transfer window.

The 33-year old has been without a club since leaving Italian side Pescara at the end of last season.

Muntari has featured for some of Europe’s top sides including AC Milan and Inter Milan, where he won the UEFA Champions league in 2010.
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By: Citi Sports

The post Sulley Muntari set for Deportivo trial appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Muntari’s father, Alhaji Muniru Muntari, had been battling illness for some time. A friend of the Muntari family confirmed the news to Citi Sports.

Alhaji Muniru Muntari was a former footballer himself, and later coach of Okwahu United and Kano Pillars, all in their prime.

His first two sons, Sulley and Muniru junior, both played football professionally; with Sulley Muntari notably playing for both Inter Milan and AC Milan.

Muniru, the younger brother of Sulley is currently with Steau Bucuresti in Romania.

Alhaji Muniru Muntari is expected to be buried in Tafo on Tuesday morning in accordance with the Islamic rules.

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By Rahman Osman/citifmonline.com

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Both players were banished and subsequently suspended indefinitely from the team after an incident during the 2014 World Cup campaign.

Muntari was booted out after he was alleged to have made an unprovoked physical attack on an Executive Committee member of the GFA and a management member of the Black Stars, Mr. Moses Armah, while Kevin-Prince Boateng was ousted after he also allegedly hurled ‘vulgar verbal insults’ at then head coach Kwesi Appiah.

In what is a shocking U-turn, Kwesi Appiah who was addressing journalists at his unveiling opened the doors of the team to a possible return of both players.

“Once Muntari and Kevin-Prince Boateng are doing well and can help the nation, I am willing to bring them back to the Black Stars,” he said.

Kevin-Prince Boateng, who now plays with Spanish side Las Palmas, has enjoyed his most prolific season scoring ten times and providing four assists so far this season.

Sulley Muntari is currently with Italian Serie A club Pescara.

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By: Daniel Koranteng/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The former Black Stars player walked off the pitch in the dying minutes of the game in protest against the racial abuse he suffered from some fans.

[contextly_sidebar id=”rZGQuirdEidw9DXgRWbVMCKmBydnrH7J”]His complaint to the referee about the abuse only got him a booking in the game between his Pescara side and Cagliari.

The incident has attracted global attention, with bodies such as the UN, FIFPRO and some important football personalities supporting Muntari for the action.

Ghana’s Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, Pius Hadzidze in an interview with Citi News condemned the attack on the footballer.

“Racism of any kind is an action that must be condemned by all. We as the Ministry of Youth and Sports unequivocally condemn the racist attack that was targeted at Sulley Muntari. We condemn it in no uncertain terms and we are calling on football governing bodies across the world and particularly the football governing body of Italy to investigate the circumstances under which he [Muntari] rather became the one who was punished and the fans of the team that were shouting the racists slurs and insults at Muntari rather have been left off the hook.”

The Italian FA in a rather shocking decision sanctioned Muntari by barring him from featuring in a game for the walk-off.

According to a disciplinary committee that investigated the matter, official match reports stated that, only 10 football fans out of the 2,000 spectators chanted the racist slurs.

But the Deputy Minister said, “they must take firm unbiased and fair steps to ensure that such actions do not repeat themselves. We stand in solidarity with all the people who have condemned this clear act of racism against Sulley Muntari.”

Mahama backs Muntari’s protest after racial abuse

Ghana’s Former President John Dramani Mahama, has also backed Sulley Muntari’s walk-off after he was racially abused by fans during Pescara’s Serie A match with Cagliari on Sunday.

Mr. Mahama in a tweet said he stood with Muntari.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Background

On Sunday, Sulley Muntari, during a league match sort refuge in referee Daniele Minelli who was officiating his team Pescara’s game against Cagliari. Muntari complained to official about racist chants against him throughout the game but the referee surprisingly flashed his yellow card in Muntari’s face in response.

But that did not deter him, he walked off the pitch but did something profound in that protest. That was when he spoke to one of the young boys pouring racist chants on him; “”I gave him my shirt, to teach him that you’re not supposed to do that. I needed to set an example so he grows up to be nice”.

The midfielder was subsequently banned by the FIGC despite having enough time to take a considered and nuanced view of the situation. To make a terrible situation even worse, Cagliari got away without any punishment, because “an approximate number of only 10” fans were involved, which apparently isn’t enough to warrant sanctioning against the club.

This incident has attracted global condemnation including Ghanaian footballers, fans, Fifpro, the UN among others. Strangely, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) are pretending they haven’t seen or heard. For me, their silence is as worse as the abuse itself, literally endorsing it.

The GFA’S shame

Forget CAF, why is the GFA silent on an issue of such magnitude involving one of its own? Sulley Muntari was one of the best performers of the senior national team the Black Stars, the flagship product of GFA in the last decade. He scored very important goals for the country, fought on the pitch for team and was a huge part of the glory in the 2006 and 2010 world cups. Forget the fact that he probably triggered the team’s disastrous outing in the 2014 edition which eventually turned the country against an FA Ghanaians are highly suspicious of.

But for a man who for all intents and purposes, did his bit for the nation, he does not deserve to be left in the cold especially when the racists jubilating over their barbaric act and whole world is talking about him. What does this say about how we treat national heroes? I respect the GFA president Kwesi Nyantakyi but I am highly disappointed that he has been so silent on this issue that has dominated every football website in the world. What kind of a leader is that? Even if he has something against Muntari, this is when he should have shown great leadership, but he has failed that test woefully.

CAF’s Blame:

Racism in football has mostly been against black players and CAF, the mother body of football in Africa, is still snoring, stuck deep in perpetual sleep especially when it comes to these matters. Even FIFA is supporting Muntari even though its own rules do not permit a player to walk off the pitch in regular time. How does CAF expect the people in Italy to support Africans when it has turned it’s back on him? CAF only pretends to care about racism in football when it’s time to hold the almost cosmetic FIFA ‘Kick Racism out Of Football’ flag during international tournament. I rest my case.

Ghana government

I was really proud to see former President John Mahama tweet in support of Muntari. Ghana as a nation always prides itself as the Black Star of African.
It’s no coincidence that the player taking a strong stand against racism is a Ghanaians, Sulley Muntari. Ironically the government of Ghana is yet to release a public statement to throw it’s weight behind it own son. Let’s pretend the press release is in the mythical political ‘pipeline.’ Muntari needs our support now more than ever.

If we are silent we are all endorsing racism, period!

A continent that is so timid to stand for what is right and a continent that forsakes its children in the midst of adversity. But we will all have to remember the famous words of Martin Luther King.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

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By: Rahman Osman/citifmonline.com/GHana

The post RAHMAN WRITES: GFA’s deafening silence endorses racial abuse against Muntari appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The incident caused huge controversy in Serie A and beyond, as the midfielder was booked by the referee for dissent.

The Ghana international then became angry and walked off the field, as the official refused to stop the game.

Not only has the Muntari yellow card not been rescinded, and therefore he is given a one-match ban, but also Cagliari have avoided any punishment for the racist chants.

This is because the officials at the ground wrote in their report that the racist chants were coming from only around 10 people, thus less than one per cent of the circa 2,000 in the stadium.

They also noted it was only audible because the rest of the supporters were staging a ‘silent protest’ and therefore the decision was made not to penalise Cagliari, not even with a warning or a fine.

However, racist chants were clearly heard from Inter fans aimed towards Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly “from 80 per cent of the 7,000 people” in the ‘secondo anello verde’ section of the stands.

That section of San Siro is, therefore, closed, albeit only as a suspended sentence for a period of a year.

The same punishment was aimed at Lazio and the Curva Nord, where again 80 per cent of the 7,000 people in that area were judged to be taking part in the racist chant towards Roma defender Antonio Rudiger.

Lazio’s Curva Nord was given a suspended sentence for one year, pending closure of that section.

Inter were also fined €10,000 for chants of ‘territorial discrimination’ against Napoli supporters and Genoa fined €15,000 for throwing fireworks.

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Source: Football Italia

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