Former Black Stars coach Kwesi Appiah has explained why he included Asamoah Gyan in his squad for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations after captaincy decision.
Gyan, who led the national team for more than five years, was dropped by coach Appiah as the captain of the side ahead of the AFCON tournament.
The two men were close friends prior to the tournament but Appiah stunned the entire country when he announced Andre Ayew as his new leader.
Gyan, who is Ghana's all-time leading scorer, was axed as the substantive captain of the side even though he was named in the squad for the competition.
This prompted the striker's to announce his retirement from the national team before the country President Nana Akufo Addo intervened to get him to reverse the decision.
In an interview, Kwesi Appiah disclosed he wanted to handle the team with Gyan and it is as a result why he took him to the tournament.
“I respect him [Asamoah Gyan] a lot,” Appiah said on Prime Take with Muftawu Nabila Abdulai on the Joy News Channel.
“That’s the reason why I called him to let him know the decision I was going to take and make him the general captain,” he explained.
“I thought he had captained the team for eight years and I felt he had done more than enough for Ghana. I told him to join me and let us handle the team.
‘He didn’t agree but if you don’t do what is right, that is my belief, if you are not sincere to yourself and try to massage issues because this is my friend or this is my son, you’ll never get results or you’ll not be successful in what you want to do.
“For me, that tournament, that’s the more reason why I took him,” he stated.
When asked if he was not considering the country's all-time leading goalscorer for the tournament?
He said, “I never decided not to take him to the AFCON, but his problem was that he was having a lot of injuries from January to May so I said if he is injured, I will not be able to take him, but if he’s not injured, no matter his situation, I will take him because of what he’s done for Ghana so that at the end of the day if he decides that he’s going to retire, that becomes his decision.”
Although Appiah acknowledges there were times when there was disunity in camp, he maintains making the right call.
“I thought, Dede [Andre Ayew] is the assistant to you [Asamoah Gyan] because Dede [Andre Ayew] has been in the team for a while, so if Gyan is not there, then automatically, it should be Dede, so I will not say because this is my friend or this is my brother, the right decision should not be taken.
“I gave the captaincy to him [Asamoah Gyan] at a time when we were going to the Cup of Nations [AFCON 2013], are you trying to tell me when we were going to the World Cup, I should have given the captaincy to Sulley because he deserved to be the captain?” he quizzed.