The ex-Udinese midfielder speaks on the Black Stars' recent scoring challenge.

Former Ghana midfielder Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu believes the Black Stars are struggling to replace legendary striker Asamoah Gyan following their inability to score in friendly matches against Morocco and Cote d’Ivoire.

In two friendlies, The Black Stars succumbed to a 1-0 away loss to Morocco before playing out a 0-0 draw with Cote d’Ivoire back home on Saturday.

Gyan, Ghana’s all-time top scorer with 51 goals in 109 internationals, has not played for the Black Stars since the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations tournament in 2019.

“What we [Ghana] need now is a typical striker as I feel Jordan Ayew is more comfortable playing behind a striker,” former Udinese man Badu said on GHOne TV.

“Everyone knows we miss a striker like Asamoah Gyan. We may not get someone who has a potential like his, Gyan will be very difficult to replace.”

Badu is not the only former Black Star to have publicly commented on the team’s drought in the recent friendlies.

"It is a source of worry if we are not scoring goals. If you have to win a game then it means you must be scoring. Is it really an issue of striking? Don’t you think it's probably because of the strategy or format we are planning?” former Ghana striker Augustine Arhinful has said.

“How is our striker supposed to score if he doesn’t get the support? We are not creating enough, maybe because of the format we are planning. We need to look at those things. Are we lacking strikers or a complete team play that will result in bringing in the goals?

“We are not creating the chances in the game for the strikers to score. We need to find the best position for some of these players to play a system that will enable us to score. Everybody must be allowed to play and we have to be concerned about how the team is playing on the field as well."

Ghana return to action in September when they take on Ethiopia and South Africa in the second round of Africa’s 2022 World Cup qualifiers.