The Ghana football fraternity is witnessing a wind of change in the developmentand production of players for our elite league and our national teams.

The second tier league thus the GN Bank Division One League is receiving a lot of applauds for the way and manner in which the tournament was packaged.

What is more significant about this development is the depth of quality emanating from the just ended league. This year’s Division One League is arguably the best so far in as many years and some pundits argue that it is even more attractive than the elite league which is the flagship of our domestic leagues.

Sincerely, the innovations put together by the Division One League Board can largely be attributed to the transformation of our second tier league into a more formidable and attractive to the football populace and corporate world. It was therefore not surprising to see GN Bank coming on board to sponsor a hitherto orphan league.

The just ended award ceremony was a masterpiece of its own. In fact we are yetto receive any qualm about the recipient of any of the awards. This indeed shows how transparent, professional and objective the process was.One area worth touching in the award categories is the prestigious player of the year.

For about over 1200 players and about 48 clubs that participated across thecountry, Samudeen Ibrahim came up as best player among his colleagues. This is no mean an achievement considering the tough nature of the competition and quality that were exhibited throughout the league.

Samudeen had a stiff opposition to this accolade by the highly-rated Joel Fameyeh of Asokwa Depotivo and the Discovery of the Year Enoch Atta Adjei of Windy Professionals.

Indeed the standard has been raised by the performance of Joel Fameyeh in his stint with the local Black Stars coupled with his prolific scoring abilities. This invariably makes Samudeen the player to watch in the coming season of any club and league he finds himself playing for after edging out all these players to the coveted award.

Saamu, as we affectionately call him, is a 19-year old footballer who played for king Solomon FC is the just ended GN Bank Division One League.

He was adjudged the best year of the league. He won the most valuable player of the match 8 times, scoring 4 and assisting  over 20 goals.

An offensive midfielder ,Saamu became a thorn in the flesh of defenders he came facing in the league. Due to his power and strength upfront, he made the job easier for his strikers and on many occasions the main orchestra of their play. His pace and dribbling skills are delight to watch and he is a true definition of a complete player.

In some occasions however he joins the central midfield to augment defensive roles when the team is under some form of pressure.Nonetheless, his rise to this enviable pinnacle did not come by a sudden flight.

Even though he is young, Saamu has gone through the grinding mill and it is notsurprising that he has attained this prestigious status. He started his football career in Nungua where heroes have arisen from over the period. Notable among them are John Naawu and son Richard Naawu, Eben Dadzie and recently Bernard Dong Bortey, Harrison Afful, Gladson Awako are few of manythe town has produced over the years.

Christian Stars, one of the best colts clubs in the Nungua area offered him the grassroot platform where he excelled.

He moved to Sekondi Eleven Wise at a juvenile age where he played for some time and help them qualify for the premiership. He returned to Accra and joined D'International.

His performance caught the eyes of sensational Inter Allies where he once again helped them qualify to the elite division. His move to King Solomon however was a shock tomany who believed it was a retrogressive decision. Saamu believed that a good player would be seen even if he plays in Jupiter.

Just after two season, Saamu helped them to place second after Dreams FC who eventually qualified for the premiership.

Currently, Saamu is the most sort after player on the local scene and this indeed shows that he is one of the golden eggs Ghana has laid. Gone are the days when division one players are rated mediocre and sub-standard  but it’s obvious from this year’s league that division one  has proven to be a vault of quality and matured players for national assignments and other elite leagues.

The performances and goal scoring prowess of Bright Luqman and Joel Fameyeh is a manifestation that Ghana is not in deficit of strikers.

Our focus hasbeen on the elite league and for that matter we just overlook the activities in the division one. For both players to score 30 and 28 goals respectively in 30 matches should tell us that our attention should be rightly channelled.It will not be far-fetched if Samudeen Ibrahim is invited to any of the national teams considering his age.

The evidence from Joel fameyeh’s performance in the local Black Stars is enough to tell us what Samudeen can do when given the chance.

It will also make the division one league very attractive to players ratherthan them joining the exodus bandwagon to Thailand, Vietnam, Afghanistan and other football unfriendly nations.Unto us a son is born and in Samudeen we see a dawn of a new era.

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