Ghana’s top scorer and captain Asamoah Gyan in his press statement released on his Twitter handle, said “as an active footballer and captain of the national team, if the decision of the coach is to give 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 and also wish to retire from national team permanently”.

This came to many as a surprise because of the timing.  However, before this shocking  press release from the Kayserispor forward, there had been several interactions and incidents which led to this premature retirement.

Some months ago, coach Kwasi Appiah contemplated dropping him from the black star’s squad because he wasn’t fit and not playing regularly for his Turkish club, he was battling injuries and had dipped in form.

But after resuming play and scoring a brace in a league game, he was included in a 30-man provisional AFCON squad prepared by the coach and his technical team.

According to sports journalist Saddick Adams “Just a few days ago, the coach phoned Gyan to congratulate him on his return. It was then that the coach informed Gyan of a decision to make him the general Captain of the team whiles another player leads the team on the field at AFCON”

Gyan didn’t accept the decision but the coach explained that, it was same manner he handed the captaincy to him Gyan in 2012, whiles his senior John Mensah acted as the General Captain.

But according to the PRO of Asamoah Gyan, Andy Kwaku Obeng the Ghana captain requested to be allowed time to think about the offer before making his decision.

He explained that after some hours, Mr. Gyan called and told Coach Kwasi Appiah he won’t accept the decision and that once he is part of the team and fit, he must be the captain at the tournament.

But the coach insisted on his decision and stood his ground, a decision which didn’t go down well with Gyan thence his decision to retire from international football.

Clearly Kwasi Appiah is one of those who are coaches and not a manager. There was no need for this, if you know Gyan is not fit and wasn’t going to play regularly at the AFCON why include him in the squad. Because the decision to select who goes to the AFCON is your responsibility.

The coach showed lack of maturity and bad faith that can cause Ghana’s chances at the AFCON and his job as the coach of the national team.

Then cometh Gyan’s reaction which is even worse. Because every player who is called to the national team is there to represent the country and not armband. Many captains from other countries have had to lose their captain’s armband and still played for their country. The PR team of Asamoah Gyan once again let the captain down by using the armband as reason for his premature retirement from the national team.

Meanwhile premature player retirment over these issues is not new to Ghanaians.

In 2008, Asamoah Gyan and his brother Baffuor Gyan as reported by BBC Sports left Ghana camp in the middle of the CAN 2008 over fans and media criticism. It was reported that, it took the then President John Agyekum Kuffuor to intervene.

Secondly also in 2012, this same Gyan again took an indefinite break from international football due to intense criticism following his crucial 2010 world cup penalty miss against Uruguay, and against Zambia in the semi final of the 2012 AFCON. He later returned but announced he won’t take penalties for Ghana again.

Thirdly, Let it be known that, In 2013, Andre Ayew and his brother Jordan Ayew wrote to the GFA, withdrawing their services from the the Black Stars few days after being excluded from coach Kwesi Appiah’s squad for the 2013 AFCON in South Africa. It took a meeting with former President John Dramani Mahama to get them to rescind on their decision.

Many will remember Asamoah Gyan for that penalty miss in South Africa 2010. Had he scored, Ghana will be through to the world cup Semi Final, which would have been a history as the first African country to ever reach that level.

Again had it not been his decision not to kick penalty for Ghana maybe Ghana would have won the 2015 penalty shootouts at the AFCON final against Ivory Coast.

Too many heartaches, depression has he caused the poor Ghanaian football fans!

Ghana has equally served him well… he’s not doing us a favour.

By Asease Aban