Asamoah Gyan recounts unfair Ghana treatment that made Baffour Gyan ‘lose interest in football’

ZaeLegendary Ghanaian striker Asamoah Gyan has expressed disquiet about what he contends to be unfair treatment handed certain players when it comes to selection into the Black Stars ahead of major tournaments.

Gyan belongs to the school of thought that players who sacrifice for the country during qualifying matches should be rewarded with places in the official team for the tournament.

Speaking on Asaase Radio, Asamoah Gyan recounted how his elder brother Baffour Gyan was denied a place at the 2006 World Cup despite playing an active role in the qualifiers.

Gyan said that Baffour was deeply hurt by the development and never recovered from it as he lost interest in football-related matters.

“It happened to my brother [Baffour Gyan]. In 2006 [when Ghana qualified for the World Cup for the first time], he played 90 per cent of the qualifiers and then they brought strikers who had never tasted one game [for the tournament in Germany]. He was on the standby [list],” he said.

“That was when my brother gave up on football. He doesn’t follow football, he doesn’t watch it, he doesn’t like it, he’s purely a businessman. Sometimes people have to be treated fairly.”

Gyan added: “No player would like to be [left out], especially having played all the games. When these players come, they don’t even play one game. They just sit on the bench, get their bonuses and go, they don’t compete,” he said.

Following Ghana’s qualification to the 2022 World Cup, names of certain players have been bandied around as potential Black Stars players.

The likes of Mohammed Salisu, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Antoine Semenyo, Inaki Williams and Tariq Lamptey have been mentioned as players who could switch nationality and represent Ghana.

Asamoah Gyan is not avers to such call-ups but believes that any player who is invited should be worth his salt.

He holds that those players should walk into the team and elevate the performance of the team.

“If they bring these players, they have to show us something, they have to prove to people that they deserve to get into the team, that’s all I want. We all want the national team to be better.”