Feature:Asamaoah Gyan's U.A.E move could be a career killer Last updated Sunday September 11 2011,10:26am
by Godfred Akoto Boafo
2011/09/11
10:24am
"Sometimes things disappoint you in football which are quite unbelievable. If we are being brutally honest he has been unhappy and unsettled for weeks and months, but to start with it was Real Madrid and it has ended up with the United Arab Emirates. It is disappointing."
That was the quote attributed to an obviously disappointed Sunderland coach Steve Bruce when he commented on star striker Asamoah Gyan's loan departure for UAE side Al Ain.
It is a departure that baffles and dissappoints even more considering the pedigree of the player involved and the standard of the league that he has just played in and continues the worrying trend of Ghanaian players chasing money ahead of prudent footballing decisions.
Samuel Inkoom left the flashlights of Basel and the Champions league to follow a Ukranian outfit that no matter how hard it tries will never be a super power,Derrick Boateng has followed,Adiyiah overrated himself and found life hard at Milan and has made an even worse decion to play in the second tier of the Turkish league
Gyan 's move however may turn out to be the biggest mistake.He is the top striker of one of the top national teams in the world playing for a very good team in the English premier league and this writer cannot wait to hear the justifications that will be alotted for this loan deal.
Baffling because Gyan was not warming the bench and even though Sunderland had jsut signed Nicklas Bendtner he was no direct competition for him and most of all his coach has always shown confidence in him when he is fit.
In my opinion money has mitigated a move that from this angle seems ill advised and has the potential to ruin the young striker's burgeoning career.
Al- Ain of the UAE is one of the largest clubs in Asia.They were the inaugral winners of the Asian cup but have not won anything since then.They have been eliminated from this year's asian champions league already and their best player is a 19 year old U.A.E midfielder.
One could make the arguement they have much in common with Sunderland in these regard but Sunderland's quality wins out anytime.Asamoah Gyan's profile and value has increased just by being in the premier league as has the general level of his play.
In my opinion Asamaoah Gyan has ran away from the hard work that is the english premier league after finding form hard to come by and the goals drying up to follow the easy dollars and cheap glory that comes with the Middle East.Maybe he has lost the wil to work hard ,maybe he feels he has accomplished enough in his career to earn such a move,only he and his agent will know.
by Godfred Akoto Boafo