Nii Lampteys tale of unfulfilled promise has its fair share of tragedy. He survived a childhood parental neglect and abuse and found solace in football, impressing for Ghanas young team in an Under-16s tournament. At the age of 16 he was snapped up by Belgian side Anderlecht on the advice of Nigeria captain Stephen Keshi. Such was his talent, the rules of the Belgian Pro League were altered, allowing him to play professionally at that age. The striker made 30 appearances in his two seasons at the club, netting nine times. A loan move to PSV followed and he was the clubs top scorer in his only season there. Lamptey was in the early years of his career, and no one expected that the three seasons at Anderlecht and PSV would be as good as it got for the Ghanaian. Lamptey, illiterate and with poor communication skills, was exploited by an Italian agent, Antonio Caliendo, who convinced him to sign an exclusive deal that gave him Lampteys registration rights rather than his club. As such, Caliendo did all he could to move Lamptey on as often as he could for the highest fees possible. After PSV he was moved on to Aston Villa. He netted on his debut but struggled thereafter and followed manager Ron Atkinson to Coventry City, where he failed to score. From there he had spells in Italy, Argentina, Portugal, Germany, China, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and back home in Ghana before his retirement in 2008. In his youth, Lamptey was touted as the African Pele, but frequent moves at his agents behest meant he could never settle anywhere, and only made it into double figures for goals in a season once in his career. Lampteys tale is one of exploitation and tragedy he deserved so much better.
David is an office drone and freelance writer for WhatCulture and Moviepilot, among others. He's also foolishly writing a serialised novel on Jukepop and has his own irregularly updated website. He's available for freelance work. Reach out on Twitter to @davefox990
