Far be it from a journalistic hack to make judgements about the career choices of a professional footballer, but Asamoah Gyan is wasting his talent. The Ghanaian has scored 107 goals in 99 appearances for United Arab Emirates side Al Ain which would indicate that the former Sunderland striker is in the same tier as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. His moderate goalscoring records elsewhere would suggest otherwise. While Gyan is a good player, most recognise the weak standard of football in that part of the world as indicative by his absence in the Ballon DOr polls. Then-Sunderland boss Steve Bruce declared that the Ghanaian international - who has scored 45 goals in 86 games for his country - was motivated purely by financial gain when he left the club for the UAE in September 2011, and its hard to argue amid speculation that Gyan is receiving £6 million per season - an estimated four times his previous salary.
Hes been unsettled now, if we are being brutally honest, for weeks and months. Since that game at Wembley, all the parasites, as I call them, hover around. Real Madrid was the first one, which I laughed at five months ago, but I started with that and its ended up with the United Arab Emirates. He shook me by the hand and said, I want to remain here and be a Sunderland player and then within 48 hours he manufactured a move to the United Arab Emirates. I will leave people to make their own conclusions about that but it baffles me how he can leave the best league in the world to go and play on the other side of the world. I find it really baffling. - Steve Bruce, September 2011.
With Gyan out of sight and mind of the Western world, Europe was given a reminder of his talents during the summer when he scored two goals in Brazil to become the top African goalscorer in World Cup history. Sunderland could really do with his goals now.
Recent Journalism & New Media graduate. Insatiable thirst for all things football, and hopes to break into the field of sports journalism in the near future.
Have made a significantly insignificant playing career out of receiving several slaps around the head for not passing the ball.
