Patrick Razak was a successful prime transfer target for Horoya Athletic Club of Guinea last October but what have followed after this big transfer are generally struggle and unhappiness. The former Ghana Premier League delight has started just one game , four months after joining the Guinean giants.
The Ghanaian has failed to break into the first team of Patrice Neveu.
The former Hearts of Oak winger is reportedly earning a good $3, 000 a month at the Guinean club but things have not really gone well for the ultra-talented player ever since he landed in Conakry.
At Hearts of Oak Razak was among the undisputed starters thanks to his quality and game changing ability but at Horoya AC, he is relegated to the bench and never an important player.
Why?
First of all there is a hell of competition in the position that he plays and that is the left or right wing.
At Horoya the right forward position holder is the 22-year old home grown talent Boniface Haba. According to Transfermkt.com he’s been at the club since he was 17 and has won four Guinea league championships with the club and to cut a long story short it is not easy to displace him at this current stage.
At the left wing is the workaholic Ghana-born Burkinabe and the captain of the team Mandela Ocansey who score goals, make assists and defensively very solid. Ocansey is one of the most important players of the team and anytime he is not in the team it may be due to injury or suspension.
The likes of Dramane Nikiema, Sekou Keita and Brefo Mensah are all ahead of Razak in the pecking order.
Things were expected to improve but four months after his move to Guinea’s most attractive club Razak has started just a game out of 12 competitive fixtures that Horoya have contested across the local championship and the CAF Champions league. That is definitely a poor return and worrying.
That only start came on January 24th in a 1-1 home draw against Coya and even with that French coach Patrice Neveu had to replace him with Naby Soumah, another talented youngster knocking on the first team’s door.
In the club’s Champions league away victory in Bulawayo on Saturday, Razak was an unused substitute and at this stage his future in Neveu’s team doesn’t guarantee.
Neveu not ready to change formation
To accomodate Razak, Ocansey and Haba at the same time while maintaining striker Bolaji ,Neveu would have to alter formations but the writings are clear on the wall. Neveu is not ready to change his main formation of 4-3-3.
For instance a 4-2-3-1 could accommodate Razak through the middle as the number ten in the space behind the striker with Ocansey and Haba stationed out wide but it appears this is not one of the transformations the Frenchman would want to do.
