The midfielder joined the Phobians from city rivals, Great Olympics on a two-year contract in a deal worth $15,000.

Awako has not trained with the club for the past months citing personal issues and did not feature for the club in the CAF Champions League playoff games.

The Phobians, however, begin their title defense in a crunch fixture against Legon Cities in match-day one at the Accra Sports Stadium on Sunday, October 31.

The 26-man squad list of Hearts of Oak was released without Abdul Umar Manaf who was also omitted from the list.

Surprisingly, Enock Asubonteng, Seidu Suraj and Nurudeen Abdul Aziz were also left out of the club’s squad for the new season.

Newly-signed defensive midfielder Ushau Abu and other new acquisitions namely Benjamin Yorke, Yaw Amankwah Baafi, Isaac Agyenim Boateng, Salim Adams were included.

Below is the Hearts of Oak squad list