Interim Asante Kotoko head coach, Michael Osei insists he has been assured of the substantive role to lead the team on a permanent basis by the new management team.

Osei was named stop-gap coach in April after head coach David Duncan was told to step aside by the outgoing Opoku Nti-led management.

He led the club to fifth place at the end of the 2015/16 season.

Reports emerging in the media indicate the newly appointed Executive Chairman Dr Kwame Kyei aims to replaced the ex-Kotoko player with an expatriate.

''Dr. Kwame Kyei has told me to stay focused and ignore all rumours circulating that he is going for a foreign coach, because what foreign coaches can do, local ones can also do,'' Osei told Nhyira FM.