Ayiah: Monaco striker sheds light on Porto and AC Milan snub

Former Ghana U17 captain Eric Ayiah has revealed he rejected bids from AC Milan and Porto to join French outfit Monaco in 2018.

After impressing for the Black Starlets at the Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon and the World Cup in India, the striker, then with Ghanaian lower division side Charity Stars, became subject of transfer speculation and ultimately settled for the Ligue 1 side.

At the time, he was likened to France attacker Kylian Mbappe, who had just burst onto the scene and joined Paris Saint Germain after developing through the Monaco youth ranks.

“If I recall, I had offers from Porto, AC Milan as well as Anderlecht. I was ready to play in Europe but I didn’t have any preference for a particular team back then," Ayiah said, as reported by Sportsworldghana.

“It wasn’t my choice [to sign for Monaco], but I liked it. While on holiday in Portugal after the World Cup, my representatives and I met [renowned player representative] Jorge Mendes because Charity Stars had links with him.

"Mendes decided to sign me after watching some of my videos from the tournament. He praised my talent and decided to help me.

“He had initially wanted me to join Wolves in England, but he held talks with the Monaco president and things moved on from there.”

Three years into his move to Monaco, Ayiah still plays for the club's youth set-up, having struggled to break into the first team.

His lack of progress has affected his international time with Ghana, having never received a call-up since the move. 

"Our facilities here [Ghana] are not up to what they have in France," Ayiah told Original FM.

"I think it is a better place to start from if only you have the aim to play football and also, the academy that I have played for about two and a half years now has helped me to learn a lot.

“If I watch some of my past videos, I can see there is a lot of improvement in many aspects of my game.

“I don’t regret the decision to move to Monaco. Joining Monaco has really helped me in terms of their facilities and what we have here in Ghana."

Ayiah netted four times at the U17 Afcon and on three occasions at the World Cup.