Dr Emmanuel Owusu-Ansah, the ministry’s representative on the Ghana FA’s six-man search committee, told the Graphic Sports yesterday that he was more in favour of a “competent local coach” who was capable of delivering and that has been made very clear to the Ghana Football Association (GFA).’

According to Dr Owusu-Ansah, a former Director of Sports Development who is returning to the ministry as a special advisor to the minister, the MOYS will only give in to employing a foreign coach in the “unlikiley event that the search team does not find a qualified and competent local coach”.

Dr Owusu-Ansah’s stance seems to give credence to rumours making the rounds that the ministry intends to bring back former Stars coach, James Kwasi Appiah, but the former Chief Executive of the National Sports Authority dismissed the assertion, saying it was “too early to pre-empt such an action”.

“The search party has set up its criteria in employing a new coach, and I can say that the ministry, among its request, has also stated emphatically that it will only endorse a coach who is willing to live and work from Ghana, and not one who will be gallivanting around the world with the excuse of monitoring players,” Dr Owusu-Ansah stressed.

As the deadline for applications for the Stars job closes today, rumours have intensified that Appiah, who led the Stars to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and was succeeded by Israeli Avram Grant, could be on his way back as the talks in the corridors of the powers that be, has indicated their preference for him.

However, it is not clear if Appiah, who currently handles Sudanese top-flight side Al Khartoum, has put in his application. His compatriots Abdul ‘Golden Boy’ Razak and Bashir Hayford are the only known local coaches who have formally put in applications for the vacant job.

Unlike previous times where the details of those who applied for the job were made public as and when they applied, the GFA has been tight-lipped on the identities of those who have applied for the job currently.