That has been the story for Chiefs central defender Jonathan Quartey who made his debut for The Amakhosi during a league game against Jomo Cosmos on the 25th August.

He did manage a further three league outings for The Amakhosi before collecting an injury back in September, when Chiefs opened up their Telkom Cup campaign against Moroka Swallows.

While it has been a frustrating time for the 19-year-old Ghana youth international, his sturdy and consistent performances for Chiefs in the five games that he has played in this season did not go unnoticed and word of his abilities have got to the ears of the Ghana national team coach Claude Le Roy.

With the news that he is in Le Roy’s plans for the future, Quartey has been given added motivation and has brought the smile back to his face ash been given the push he needed to get him on the road to full fitness.

Abedi acknowledgement

There could be no better source for the Chiefs defender than former Ghanaian legend Abedi Pele, that the Black Stars coach is well aware of what Quartey with his tough tackling no nonsense defending could offer the Black Stars.

Speaking to kaizerchiefs.com at the FIFA World Cup Preliminary draw on Sunday evening in Durban, the three times African Footballer of the year spoke of Quartey’s future involvement with the Ghana national teams.

Abedi said “as a person closely involved with the Ghana national team it is part of my role to monitor the progress of Ghanaian players around the world, when it comes to Jonathan I have spoken to the coach about him. We were very impressed by his early form in the PSL with Chiefs, with him being injured we have not been able to further monitor him, from what we have seen of him from the past with the Ghana youth teams and what he has done for Chiefs so far you could say with out fear that he will feature heavily for the Black Stars in the future”.

Quartey boost

Getting the news that he is in the plans of those who are in the positions of strength at the Ghanaian football association has pleased Quartey who said on Monday, “this time that I have spent away from playing is not a process I would like to repeat again in my career. As it has been very trying and testing on me both as a person and a footballer, at the time of this injury I was at the top of my game and I felt that I was getting better and better”.

The news that Pele has talked up his chances of making his debut for the senior Ghana men’s team, has been a huge boost for his morale as he said “hearing what Abedi said about me is really fantastic and it will push me in my fight to gain full fitness again, knowing that some one like Abedi believes I have the ability to do well for my country is great news. It will all fall into place though when I start playing for Chiefs again; knowing that good performances for my club will get me into the Black Stars team is a huge incentive for me to get up and running with Chiefs again”.