Agyemang-Badu: Ghana international returns to action after lengthy lay-off

Ghana international Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu had surgery on his left knee in July 2018

Ghana international Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu returned to action with Udinese on Saturday after an 11-month injury layoff.

The 28-year old midfielder was an 85th minute substitute in Udinese's 2-0 win over Genoa in the Italian Serie A match.

"Welcome back Emmanuel! It was beautiful to see you back on the field," Udinese tweeted, as he made his first appearance of the season having had surgery on his left knee in July last year.

His last competitive outing came in the Turkish top flight league on 6 May 2018 where he was on loan at Bursaspor.

The midfielder featured 18 times for Bursaspor in the Turkish Super Lig and rejoined Udinsese after the loan spell.

Agyemang-Badu had joined Udinese from Ghanaian club Berekum Arsenal in 2010 after he had played for another Ghanaian side Asante Kotoko and Spanish club Recreativo.

He spent seven-and-a-half seasons with Udinese, scoring ten goals in 166 league appearances, before his loan spell in Turkey.

Agyemang-Badu did not feature for Ghana in their entire 2019 Africa cup of Nations qualifying campaign but he is now hoping to fight his way back into the Black Stars squad for this year's finals in Egypt.

He featured in the last five Africa Cup of Nations tournaments, twice helping Ghana to finish as runners-up in 2010 and 2015, and he also played in the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil.

Agyemang-Badu won the 2009 Fifa Under-20 World Cup with the Black Satellites after he had made his international debut for the senior national team against Lesotho the previous year.