Asante Kotoko head coach, Mariano Barreto has left the shores of Ghana for Portugal with his assistant for holidays after the 2020/21 Ghana Premier League ended.
The 64-year-old left the country with the club’s injury prevention coach Pedro Manuel.
It is unlikely the coach would return to Ghana to start the 2021/22 Premier League season with Kotoko under “same conditions” despite having a year left on his contract.
Recently the Portuguese gaffer lamented over poor training facilities at the club’s Adako Jachie training complex which has resulted in their players attending nature’s call in the bush.
“For a big club like Kotoko, I can’t fathom how our players come to training and have to go to toilet and urinate in the bush,” he said recently.
The gaffer added that he cannot continue working with the club over conditions which he has complained about.
“It will be an insult on me if I continue as head coach of Asante Kotoko in the same conditions I have already complained about,” he said on based Nhyira FM.
He said those conditions might be favourable for some other coaches to work but he was not happy to be working under such environment and wants to quit.
“There are other coaches out there who will be happy to work in these conditions and not me.”
Barreto who was named as the head coach of the club in the second half of the season has dominated the local media after finishing the season trophyless.
Barreto was appointed in March 2021 replacing Maxwell Konadu who was sacked in December 2020 after just five matches into the season.
The former Black Stars gaffer returned to Ghana football almost 15 years after abandoning the national team midway into the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifiers for Portuguese topflight outfit Maritimo.
He guided Asante Kotoko to finish second place on the 2020/21 Ghana Premier League log with 57 points.
