Ghana and Al Ahli striker Asamoah Gyan has bitten back at the Al Ahli supporters when quizzed about his troubled loan spell, provocatively stating: “I think a lot of people do not understand the game”.
The 31-year-old has continued to struggle for form and fitness during a season-long secondment from China’s Shanghai SIPG.
He broke his duck at the fifth time of asking in the 2017 AFC Champions League with a chip during Tuesday’s 4-0 thrashing of Uzbekistan’s Lokomotiv Tashkent which saw the Red Knights cruise into the round of 16, but this was just a ninth effort in 22 run-outs.
This stark decline from a legendary spell at Al Ain from 2011-15, which included 95 goals in 83 Arabian Gulf League games, has led to plentiful and biting criticism.
“I think a lot of people do not understand the game,” said the Ghana skipper when quizzed about his strained relationship with the fans at Rashid Stadium. “That is what I feel, they don’t understand the game.
“People don’t feel my situation, they feel about what they see. They feel about themselves, they don’t feel for me – the player.
“All the season, because I’ve not been consistent. You cannot expect a player to be 100 per cent when he goes on and off, on and off.
“They know what I can do when I was playing consistently. I am here to prove to everybody I am still who I am, the right moment will come.
“All I need is consistency. But for me, the people here have not treated mefairly – that is what I can say.”
When asked specifically about who had treated him unfairly, Gyan replied: “The fans, the people here – that is what I can say.
“Sometimes I feel disappointed. But I always say that you can judge me when I am playing every game.
“You cannot judge me when I have injury. They expect me to perform like I used to, that is what I can say.”
These comments could see Gyan gain a heated reception on Saturday when the dethroned champions wind up their AGL commitments at home to relegated Bani Yas.
From their previous 25 top-flight dates, the ex-Sunderland and Udinese centre forward has only started eight and been substituted on five times. He has scored on five occasions and completed the full match twice.