Sulley Muntari

Suleyman Ali "Sulley" Muntari (born 27 August 1984) is a Ghanaian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

He spent most of his career in Italy, playing for clubs such as Udinese, Inter Milan, and AC Milan.

Spoken about as a talented footballer at a young age, Muntari started his youth career in Ghana with Liberty Professionals before joining Udinese where he progressed from their academy into becoming a first team player.

He featured in over 150 matches for Udinese and scored 9 goals before securing a move to join English team Portsmouth then English Premier League.

He was also a member of the Ghana U20 team that placed second in the African Youth Championship and FIFA U-20 World Cup both in 2001.

He is the elder brother of Tambov player Sulley Muniru.

Muntari's abilities first came to light in youth tournaments, while he was playing for Liberty Professionals youth team.

He became a regular member of Ghana under-20 team at the age of 16 as they finished runners-up at the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship in Argentina, losing out to the hosts in the final.

Despite impressing during a trial with Manchester United after the tournament, he ended up joining Italian club Udinese.

He joined Udinese in 2001, where his first season was spent in the reserves.

After becoming a full international in 2002, Muntari earned over 80 caps for the Ghana national team and was selected for two Africa Cup of Nations tournaments and three FIFA World Cups.

He made his first-team debut on 6 November 2002, against Milan.

In his second full season, he made 23 appearances, and increased his standing to 33 appearances the following season, although indiscipline saw him sent off three times in 16 matches in the 2006–07 season.

He left Udinese for Portsmouth after five seasons in Italy.

He spent only a season with the Pompey and was also part of the team that won the FA Cup in 2007–08.

Muntari had already indicated a desire to move to the English Premier League, when in early 2007 transfer bids were received from Portsmouth.

He eventually opted for Portsmouth and transferred on 30 May 2007, for a new club record fee, believed to be around £7.1 million, signing a five-year contract.

He was a regular member of the first XI throughout the 2007–08 season, playing 29 League matches and scoring four goals.

He made his Premier league debut on the opening match-day on 11 August 2007 in Pompey's 2–2 away draw against Derby County.

On 29 September, Muntari scored his first goal and provided an assist in a thrilling 7–4 victory over Reading.

Muntari scored the seventh goal of the match from the penalty spot in stoppage time after Kranjcar was fouled by Rosenior.

The scoreline set a record as the highest scoring match in Premier League history.

His skill, tenacity and football ability were praised for his performance in this match.

On 24 November, Muntari scored his second league goal against Birmingham help Portsmouth to a 2–0 victory.

He scored against his Ghanaian compatriot Richard Kingson, who was making his Premier League debut in goal for the Blues.

His performance of note was away at Aston Villa where he scored two spectacular long-range goals.

He also played four FA Cup matches, scoring the winner from the penalty spot in a 1–0 victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford in the Sixth round of the FA Cup.

His winner led to their progress into the semi-finals.

On 2 March 2007, it was reported in the Italian press that Inter Milan were preparing a summer offer for the midfielder.

Injuries to Esteban Cambiasso and Patrick Vieira underlined just how short of ball-winning midfielders the Nerazzurri were, and they would be looking to remedy the problem in June 2007.

Transfer consultants Marco Branca and Gabriele Oriali were looking around Europe for possible options and Muntari seemed to be their man at the insistence of coach Roberto Mancini, although Muntari ultimately went to Portsmouth in the summer of 2007.

His performance in the Premier League and the FA Cup earned him a move to join Inter Milan in 2008.

He was in the starting XI that won the 2008 FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium over Cardiff City.

He left Fratton Park after one season to join Internazionale.

On 21 July 2008, however, Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported that with the probable failure of new Inter coach José Mourinho to land his former Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard, Muntari was now his top target central midfield target.

The reports gathered pace in the Italian press in the next few days that Muntari had already agreed a four-year contract with Inter.

In an interview in 2022, he revealed that he agreed to sign after Mourinho called him and asked if he wanted to play for him, to which he replied yes.

But Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp told Sky Sports News, "I don't want to sell him. He is one of my best players and is a terrific young talent" when quizzed about Inter's supposed interest in Muntari.

On 24 July 2008, the BBC and Gazzetta dello Sport reported that Muntari would complete a €14 million plus bonuses move to Inter.

During his time with Inter Milan, he helped the team win the Champions League in 2009–10 and the Serie A title in 2008–09 and 2009–10 among other trophies.