Ghana's black stars skipper, Asamoah Gyan wants to hang his boots but the government is having none of it

Ghana's black stars skipper, Asamoah Gyan wants to hang his boots but the government is having none of it

Ghana Black Stars skipper, Asamoah Gyan has announced his decision to recuse himself from the upcoming African Cup of Nations tournament and also retire from the national team over fears he may be stripped of the captaincy.
   
   
   
       
       
           
               
                   

Ghana Black Stars skipper, Asamoah Gyan has announced his decision to recuse himself from the upcoming African Cup of Nations tournament and also retire from the national team over fears he may be stripped of the captaincy.

               
           
               
                   

This comes after the coach of the team, Kwesi Appiah decided to take the armband from him ahead of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

               
           
               
                   

The 33-year-old forward, in a statement yesterday, barely 24 hours to the release of Ghana’s provisional squad by the coach said that he would not be a member of Ghana's team for the 2019 AFCON, which takes place in Egypt between June 21 and July 19.

               
           
               
                   

Gyan, who has been a key member of the national team since making his international debut in 2003, suggested that he had a strong conviction that there were attempts being made for him to surrender his captaincy and serve in another role. A development, he said, that has left him unhappy.

               
           
               
                   

"Upon consultation with my family and team, and as an active footballer and captain of the national team, if the decision of the coach is to give the captaincy of the tournament to another player while I am named in the team for the tournament, I wish to recuse myself from the tournament," he said.

               
           
               
                   

"I also wish to retire from the national team permanently, not pretending my presence would not fuel the purported undermining the country has seen under my captaincy. Through such periods, there were no times substantive captains were part of a team and had to surrender their captaincy to other players and served in different capacities,” he noted.

               
           
               
                   

Gyan scored on his Black Stars debut as a 17-year-old in a World Cup qualifier against Somalia in Accra on November 19. He retires as Ghana’s all-time top scorer with 51 goals in 106 appearances.

               
           
               
                   

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Sports and Culture in the country, Alex Agyekum expects President Nana Akufo-Addo to convince Asamoah Gyan to rescind his retirement decision.

               
           
               
                   

According to him, "the timing of stripping him of the captaincy could have been handled better than we've seen now. He has served this nation well and even if it's time to make way for others it could have been done in a more refined way.”

               
           
               
                   

He added that "I won't be surprised if President Nana Akufo-Addo calls Asamoah Gyan and the other stakeholders over this issue. The president of the land is bent on seeing the Black Stars win AFCON 2019 and won't countenance anything that will bring disharmony."

Source: Ghana's black stars skipper, Asamoah Gyan wants to hang his boots but the government is having none of it

- gist culled from pulseng