Sulley Muntari was born 27 August 1984 in Konongo, Ghana and is a Ghanaian footballer who currently plays as a central midfielder for AC Milan in the Italian Serie A. He has been capped 73 times for the Ghanaian national team.

Sulley Muntari began his club career in 2000 with Liberty Professionals in Accra and had become a regular starter in the Ghanaian national under-20 team. By the age of 16 he had become one of the most sought after young footballers in the world, impressing in a trial with Manchester United and gaining interest from a stack of European clubs including Manchester United.

He won his first senior cap for the Ghanaian national side, the ‘Black Stars’, against Slovenia on 17 May 2002 and became a regular fixture in Ghana’s 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign. He has also played in Ghana’s Olympic, Afro Nations Cup and World Cup teams and has, to date, been capped 73 times for his country.

In 2001, he joined Italian Club Udinese, spending his first season in the reserve team. A year later, he made his first full team debut against AC Milan where the Italian monthly magazine Football Italia likened him to Kaka and Edgar Davids. Five seasons later, he joined Portsmouth on a five year deal for a new club record fee of £7.1m. He had indicated a desire to move to the English Premier League and finally transferred to Portsmouth on the 30th May 2007. His most notable achievement whilst at Pompey was to help the team to an historic FA cup win at Wembley in 2008.

Muntari left Fratton Park for Inter Milan who at the time were seeking strong midfielders. Although Redknapp was reluctant to let Muntari go, a four-year-contract with Inter Milan (worth €16 million plus), was eventually agreed.

One of Muntari’s most impressive performances for Inter involved scoring the winning goal against rivals Juventus in the 2008 Derby d’Italia. Muntari also won his first Scudetto (the prize for the winners of Italy’s Annual Football League competition) after his first season with the club.

Highlights of Muntari’s international career include scoring two goals against the Czech republic at the World Cup in Germany in 2006 which helped the Black Stars to the second spot in their group, and scoring two winning goals in the 2008 Afro Cup of Nations. More recently Muntari was a key member of the Ghana side who reached the semi-finals of the Afro Cup of Nations 2012.

On 29 January 2011, Sulley Muntari signed a loan deal with Sunderland for the remainder of the season. He returned to Inter in May 2011 and went on loan to AC Milan in January 2012 for the remainder of the season.

In December 2010, Sulley Muntari married Menaye Donkor, model, philanthropist and former Miss Ghana Universe. They live together in Milan but visit their home country of Ghana regularly.

When not playing football, Sulley likes to spend time with family and play FIFA on the Playstation, and is also a keen photographer. Whenever he is home in Ghana ‘Uncle Sulley’ is also kept busy by around 30 nieces and nephews.