AFCON 2021: Football analyst criticises 8 debutants in Milovan Rajevac's Ghana AFCON squad as worrisome

• Ghana Black Stars Coach, Milovan Rajevac named his provisional 30-man squad for the upcoming African Cup of Nations (AFCON) on Tuesday, December 21, 2021
• The squad involves a high of eight players that would be making their first appearances for the Black Stars if they make the final 28-man squad to be submitted for the tournament
• Football tactical and data analyst, Scott Geelan, has criticized the number of debutants in the Black Stars squad for the continental football showpiece as "an indictment"

Scott Geelan, a football tactical and data analyst with AsfroStat, has criticized Coach Milovan Rajevac's squad for the upcoming AFCON for including eight debutants.

Scott Geelan, noted that given the magnitude of the tournament and Ghana's failure in winning it for more than 40 years, he'd expected a more experienced crop of players.

He tweeted his analysis of the squad on his Twitter handle with his notes, with the analyst suggesting that various of the first-timers could have been involved earlier on.

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"The former & latter are an indictment on the last 2 years' selections. About to play a *delayed* AFCON & months away from the final round of World Cup qualifying & Milo believes his best 30 includes 8 potential debutants. Various of them could have been involved earlier", Scott said in parts of his notes.

Scott Geelan further noted that the younger players in the squad's lack of regular playing time is "a little disconcerting".

He nonetheless admitted that the inclusion of Kudus, who might not even be able honor the call-up due to an injury, Kamaldeen & Gideon Mensah, were great to balance the deficit in leading the generation of younger ones.

"Regulars in their prime is desirable at the end of a cycle & the post-prime regulars aren't particularly old. Lack of younger players playing regularly is a little disconcerting, however. Kudus, Kamaldeen & Gideon Mensah are the 3 leading the next generation (unsurprisingly)" Scott tweeted.

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Scott Geelan added that the most telling thing about the Serbians squad is that he seemed to be planning for the future of next generation Ghana Black Stars players.

"The squad looks an attempt to start the move towards the next gen, with numerous inexperienced, pre-prime & early-prime selections. Nevertheless, worth querying the talent ID throughout this cycle & the absence of a plan / pathway, leading to so many new faces at this stage."

The Ghana Black Stars are supposed to begin camping on December 22, 2021, in Doha, Qatar, ahead of the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) starting weeks soon in January.

9 top 5 European teams to lose players to Black Stars AFCON squad

From the 30-man squad announced by Ghana Black Stars Coach, Milovan Rajevac for AFCON, nine of the players play for clubs from the top five European leagues.

With as many as 25 out of the 30 players named in the squad plying their trade outside Ghana, and only five playing in the country, it is expected that quite a number would be from Europe's top five leagues.