Head coach of the Black Meteors, Ibrahim Tanko, has revealed that the management of Felix Afena-Gyan informed him the youngster is not ready to feature for the team despite being named in his squad.

The Cremonese forward was named in Ghana’s 26-man squad for the doubleheader against Algeria in the final round of the CAF U-23 Africa Cup of Nations [AFCON] qualifiers.

The 20-year-old who has been struggling at the Serie A side rejected the call-up.

In his absence, the Black Meteors recorded a 2-1 aggregate scoreline to qualify for the tournament that would be staged in Morocco later this year.

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“I did my list and added Afena. I don’t know why he is not here. I personally spoke to his agent about four times and he told me the boy is not ready,” Tanko said to the media when quizzed about the former AS Roma man.

The gaffer went ahead to talk about his plans moving forward ahead of the competition to be played in June.

“We are looking at inviting good and quality players to come and help us.

“If only it’s a FIFA date. I think it’s the end of the season so we will have more of them,” he added.

Ghana held Algeria in a 1-1 drawn game in Annaba before beating the North African side by a 1-0 in the reverse leg at the Baba Yara Stadium on Tuesday.

The Black Meteors will look to use the AFCON tournament as a channel to qualifying for the Olympic Games for the first time since 2004.