EXCLUSIVE- Why Esperance de Tunis move for Hearts of Oak forward Afriyie Barnieh never materialized
Esperance de Tunis could have had a breakthrough in move for Ghanaian International Afriyie Barnieh in the second transfer window in Africa.
However, Hearts’ poor campaign in continental football has reportedly scooped the fruitful deal that could have earned them huge sum of money.
Sources told Futball Surgery that Esperance Sportive de Tunis may have a breakthrough to complete the signing of Afriyie Barnieh in the course of the Caf Champions League.
With the Ghana Premier League becoming a household name for many African clubs in recent years, ES Tunis decided to have share of business in the Ghanaian top flight.
The Tunisian side bolstered their squad for the 2021-2022 season as transfers were geared towards winning the African Champions League this season.
And chase for the competition is still on course after going unbeaten, with only a goal conceded in the group phase of the African Champion League.
Esperance lead Group C with 11 points plus 9 goals where they have already qualified to quarter-finals even if they lose their last game against second place CR Belouizdad in Saturday evening.
When making transfer moves at start of the season, ES Tunis could not overlooked the Ghana Premier League that it’s stars have become demanded in Egypt, South Africa, Algeria, Sudan and Tunisia. They announced a 4-yera deal for Dreams FC star Precious Boah at beginning of the season before loaning him to CS Hammam-Lif in January.
They were also interested with a move for Hearts of Oak attacker Afriyie Barnieh in January- around the same period the Caf Champions League may enter into group stage and second registration of players opened.
But an Esperance move for Barnieh was largely dependent on how far Hearts of Oak go in their African campaign.
With the Ghana Premier League reigning champions suffering early exit from the Caf Champions League and Confederation Cup- which means Hearts failed to make cut for group stage football, Esperance have decided to stop a deal on Barnieh.
That’s is due to club’s new policy which doesn’t recognizes a foreign player outside group stage of Caf inter club football. The Tunisian side are understood to sign a player from outside (Tunisia) who have at least Caf Confederation Cup and Champions League group stage experience.
The Tunisia side initially were confident Hearts of Oak will reach money zone of this season’s African competitions that will aid in drawing the Phobians to the negotiation table for Afriyie Barnieh.
The Esperance new policy also outlines that a foreign target must play in the senior national team or have a rich youth experience with Barnieh already meeting this criteria after guiding Ghana’s U20 to first position in the 2021 African Youth Championship in Mauritania.
While this should have been enough grounds for Esperance to make their interest official after they were ready to submit undisclosed huge sum of money bid in January, Hearts’ exit from Africa has hampered the deal particularly heading into the end of the season.
Having joined Hearts at the beginning of 2019-2020 season, Barnieh completely fell behind Kofi Kodzi in the pecking order under a one-top system.
He has fought off competitions to establish himself as one of the best aces in the current Hearts of Oak setup.
The forward enjoyed unprecedented form in career in the 2020-2021 season after lifting the Wafu Zone B and African Youth Championships for Ghana. Barnieh scored 6 Ghana Premier League goals and 5 times in the FA Cup to emerge top scorer of the domestic cup helping Hearts of Oak to lift the title.
He scored all Ghana’s two goals against Uganda in the African Youth Championship final in March 2021.
Esperance began their interest in the Ghanaian International during the Wafu Championship in Togo in 2020 and the Tunisia side were way impressed.
It’s unclear whether the Tunisian outfit will make a move at the beginning of next season.
