Kotoko complete Rahim’s signing — Opoku Nti
After initial hiccups, Kumasi Asante Kotoko have completed the signing of former Ghana international, Rahim Ayew, and the player is set to play a key role in the team’s continental campaign next year.
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Kotoko completed the signing last week after paying a fine to the Ghana Football Association (GFA) for undue delay in processing the documents of the player.
With the completion of his registration with the GFA, the 25-year-old versatile midfielder’s name has formally been forwarded to CAF as one of the players to play for the Porcupine Warriors in the CAF Champions League next year.
Disclosing this to the Graphic Sports yesterday, the acting General Manager of Kotoko, Mr Samuel Opoku-Nti, said the GFA had fined Kotoko for delaying the registration of the player for the local competitions, which is a prerequisite for registration for Africa club competitions..
“We have paid the fine and now I can say without any shred of equivocation that Rahim is a bonafide player of Kotoko,” Opoku Nti said.
Rahim, the eldest son of Ghana legend, Abedi Ayew Pele, completed his medicals with Kotoko in October 2013 after inconclusive terms with Hearts of Oak.
His registration for Kotoko in the second transfer window delayed due to “some challenges” but management worked seriously to overcome the difficulties.
Mr Opoku-Nti said the registration of former international Isaac Boakye was still not complete as his international transfer certificate had not been secured from his former club.
However, the Kotoko boss said he was working hard to secure it as the player would constitute an integral part for the domestic and continental games next year.
Touching on the chances of Kotoko in the Africa competition, Mr Opoku-Nti was confident of making history with the Porcupine Warriors in next year’s CAF Champions League.
The man, who scored that crucial goal against Al-Ahly in 1983 to lift the African clubs championship for Kotoko, said he wanted to be the first former player to lead the club to conquer Africa as chief executive.
“I know God wants to use me to repeat history,” he said.
The soft-spoken Opoku-Nti said the team was gradually hitting top form and with the inclusion of some ‘quality materials’ from the second transfer window, the future looked bright.
The Kotoko chief called for maximum support from the supporters as that could propel both management and players to excel.
He was happy with the appointment of George Kennedy, a member of the Kotoko 1983 Africa winning squad, as Operations Director.
“The coming on board of Kennedy is welcome news because I know his worth,” Opoku-Nti said.