He spent some of his childhood in the Ghanaian capital Accra, where he chose to play football barefoot despite having boots and the pitches being rocky.

[2][3] Boateng watched a 4–3 game between Liverpool and Newcastle United in April 1996, which convinced him about the quality of English football.

[2] With six months left of his Feyenoord contract and a four-year extension being offered, he completed a £250,000 move to Coventry City in December 1997.

Coventry chairman Bryan Richardson accused Villa manager John Gregory of making illegal approaches for Boateng.

[6] Gregory played 131 matches for Villa, including the 2000 FA Cup final which his team lost by a single goal to Chelsea.

[10] In November 2002, Boateng avoided action from the Football Association on two occasions after clashing with Gianfranco Zola of Chelsea and Nick Barmby of Leeds United.

[17] Newly promoted Premier League club Hull City announced on 10 July 2008 that Boateng had agreed to sign a two-year contract with them, for an undisclosed fee.

[21] After holding talks with Celtic,[22] Boateng joined Greek side Skoda Xanthi on a two-year deal in July 2010.

[24] He played 7 games in total for Forest, scoring an added-time equaliser in a 2–2 draw with East Midlands rivals Leicester City on 20 August.

[26] Four days later, he signed a one-year contract, linking him again with former Hull teammate and Republic of Ireland international Caleb Folan.

[30] In 2014, Boateng was unveiled as the new head coach of Kelantan, replacing Steve Darby, who had been shown the door after a 4–0 loss to Sime Darby[31] On 6 May 2014, Kelantan came back from 3–0 down to draw 3–3 with Felda United in first leg of the Malaysia FA Cup semi-final in Boateng's first game as head coach.

[36] On 29 July 2019, it was announced that Boateng had left Rovers to take up a position as Aston Villa Under-18 Professional Development Coach.