I have heard so many accusations against Asamoah Gyan on his loan to Al-Ain football club from Sunderland.
It is sad that this matter have generated such a controversy world wide and have portrayed Asomoah Gyan as a monster and a greedy money lover. All the negative comments and criticisms on Gyan l believe is unfair. It is true that Sunderland paid a good amount of money to move him from France. However, it must be noted that Gyan gave Sunderland a descent display in his first season. There are a few issues that l would like to put across in reference to the loan of Gyan to Al-Ain.
The first issue has to do with the press and their interview with Gyan concerning his intentions for the upcoming season. From the many articles l have read on www.ghanaweb.com and www.bbc.com, it was the press who started this whole confusion in the first place. If the press really cross check their information before publishing it problems like this would not happen in the first place. I saw an article on bbc .com proclaiming that Asamoah Gyan had put in a transfer request to Sunderland only for the story to be retracted a few minutes later. How can a great news organization like BBC not cross check with Sunderland before publishing that statement. It was from this point that this whole confusion started. If these news corporations were sincerely and were truly following events they would not have missed it that Al-Ain were in talks with Gyan and Sunderland. They would have known then that Gyan’ s move was eminent if an agreement was reached.
The other point that l want to put across is that Asamoah Gyan could not open his mouth to say that he was leaving Sunderland when discussion between Al-Ain and Sunderland had not taken place or materialized. If l am a football player and l am approached by a club who need my services, l cannot immediately run to the press to tell them about it especially when l am under contract with another club. Gyan could not have spoken to the press about his discussions with Al-Ain when he did not know if Sunderland would agree to the deal. Consider the case of Samuel Eto’o. When Samuel Eto’o was approached by Anzhi with an offer he did not run immediately to the press to announce that he had been approached by the club because he knew he was under contract the Inter Milan. It was Inter Milan and Anzhi that announce or released statements to the press and on their websites. The other issue l want to put across has something to do with the Sunderland club in general and Steve Bruce in particular. I want them to know that painting Gyan as the devil does not help the club and it would be better if they come out and told the whole world the truth. It must be known that since Gyan was under contract he can only be loaned to another club if Sunderland agreed to it. The case of Carlos Tavez is a prime example. Sunderland have to come out with the truth concerning this loan deal. Sunderland and Steve Bruce know very well that Gyan was not the only beneficiary of this deal, but that the mouth watering amount paid by Al-Ain to the club was part of the reasons for the loan. Sunderland should not think the issue or debate would go away without an explanation from them.
Andy Mac-Carthy
