Nii Lamptey
Lamptey was a prolific teenager and in 1991 was described as the new Pele after helping Ghana win the FIFA Under 17 World Cup and being voted the player of the tournament. A year later he won his first full cap for his country and helped Ghana to win the bronze medal at the Barcelona Olympics. In club football he made his debut for Anderlecht in Belgium as a 16-year old before a move to PSV Eindhoven. Unfortunately he had signed an exclusive contract with a dubious Italian agent who insisted on him joining Aston Villa in 1993.
He failed to make an impression at Villa and following his manager Ron Atkinson’s departure he followed him to Coventry. He only played six games for the Sky Blues but showed impressive glimpses of his enormous talent, scoring goals in both legs of a League Cup victory over Hull and almost snatching a win at Anfield in his best game for the club.
Since leaving City in 1996 he has travelled the world for his football playing for Venezia (Italy), Boca Juniors and Union Santa Fe (Argentina), Ankaragucu (Turkey), Uniao Leiria (Portugal), Greuther Furth (Germany), Shandong Luneng (China), Al Nassr (UAR), Asante Kotoko (Ghana) and most recently Jomo Cosmos (South Africa). He is now back in Ghana running a school.
