Legacy Sports clinches deal with Italy

Sports consultants, Arthur Legacy Sports Management Limited (ALSML), have announced a bilateral trade agreement with the Italian Embassy in Ghana, which seeks to promote the safe and ethical transfer of young Ghanaian footballers to Italy.

The agreement would facilitate the acquisition of visas and travel documents for Ghanaian players and teaching them the laws of the host country and enable the Italian Embassy to keep track of Ghanaian footballers while they are resident in Italy.

The deal was unveiled at the Calcio Trade Ball held in Accra last Thursday, which had in attendance 25 Ghanaian footballers who ply their trade in Italy, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, the GFA president, Kwesi Nyantakyi, Black Stars coach, Avram Grant, the Italian Ambassador to Ghana, Ms Laura Carpini and the Head of ALSML, Oliver Arthur.

Mr Arthur, in his address, explained that it was high time the transfer of Ghanaian footballers to Italy was considered as trade because of the vast number of Ghanaians who played football professionally in that country.

"The main reason why we held this event is to unveil football as an element of trade between Ghana and Italy because most times the football component is overlooked.

"Among the Ghanaians who have worked or done good business in Italy over the years are footballers of outstanding repute, including trailblazers such as Mohammed Gargo and Abedi Pele and in recent times Asamoah Gyan, Kwadwo Asamoah, and Agyemang Badu, among others.

"These players also contribute a lot of foreign exchange from the remuneration they send back to their relatives as well the businesses they establish in Ghana", Mr Arthur explained.