Gyan to quit after 2019 AFCON

Coach J.E.Sarpong has revealed that Black Stars captain, Asamoah Gyan, has given him a firm assurance that he will hang up his boots after the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

In recent times there has been a clamour among fans for the ageing striker to retire and give way to younger players because of declining form and recurrent injuries which have prevented him from giving his best for Ghana lately.

However, Coach Sarpong, who has a close relationship with Gyan whom he coached while he was a student at Accra Academy, said Ghana’s all-time leading goalscorer had set a timetable to call it a day.

“When I spoke to him recently in Kumasi, he was emphatic that he would call it quits after the 2019 Nations Cup. That is why I am concerned about the incessant attacks to hunt him out from the Black Stars at this stage that he still has a lot to offer” Coach Sarpong said during an interview on UTV Sports last Saturday.

He expressed concern about the manner in which football fans had been attacking Gyan and demanding his early exit from international football to pave way for the younger generation.

He described the incessant attacks on Gyan as premature and a way of distracting his attention from his core business on the field of play.
Instead, Coach Sarpong said fans should rather appreciate the contributions of Gyan to the development of football in Ghana by motivating him to prove his worth as he makes full recovery from injuries.

“Football fans should not hunt Asamoah Gyan from the Black Stars now. We should rather allow him to focus . This is because he still has much to offer the Black Stars at the international level,” he noted.

“It is not good to continue putting intense pressure on him to quit a career that he had built over the years. It is a career because he also earns a living from it, so to put much pressure on Gyan at this stage is not the best because it will eventually cause him to lose focus.”