Lies and neglect: Anthony Annan opens up about injury that ended his Black Stars career

Former Black Stars midfielder Anthony Annan has recounted the story of how Black Stars team doctors allegedly lied to the public about an injury situation in 2013 that also cost him his national team career.

Narrating the situation that marked the beginning of the end of his national team career, Anthony Annan noted that despite suffering the injury during a pre-AFCON friendly in 2013, the national team doctors misled the public about it, claiming that it was an injury he picked from his club.

In an interview with Geomends Media, the highly regarded defensive midfielder detailed the game in which he sustained the ankle injury.

“At the time, I was playing for Osasuna in Spain. We had a tournament in South Africa (AFCON 2013), so we had to go camping. There is a thing in football where if a player is injured, the club will not release you for national assignment, so my presence in the Black Stars camp means that I was fit.

“We played a friendly against Egypt a week before the tournament, and I was the captain. During the game, there was a situation where I had to jump and make a pass, and I ended up twisting my ankle when I landed,” he recounted.

He continued that he did not feel it was a big injury until he got to the sidelines and never returned to the game.

“Initially, I thought it was minor, so I went out for treatment, but I couldn’t return. They flew me to Dubai for an X-ray, and it turned out that I had cracked my bone. I was doing everything possible to play, so I had to take injections and use beach sand for treatment.”

Annan was a key figure for the Black Stars during his peak years; hence, his injury became topical.

In that regard, journalists repeatedly inquired about his availability from the physicians, but after allegedly deceiving the public about the situation, the medics eventually blamed it on him, claiming that he sustained the injury during club duties.

“The journalists kept asking when I was going to get ready, but I never got ready. The doctor had to lie to the journalist that it was an old injury. But if I had an injury, Osasuna wouldn’t have allowed me to join the Black Stars. That thing frustrated me because I was on loan at Osasuna from Schalke 04.”

Despite the injury, Anthony Annan played Ghana’s opening game against DR Congo but could not feature again in the tournament.

According to him, the injury cost him his salary for the second round of the season as Schalke refused to pay him.

“I played only 20 minutes in the tournament. That was the opening game against DR Congo. I couldn’t play again until we got eliminated. When I returned to Osasuna, I couldn’t play and returned to my mother club, Schalke at the end of the season and had surgery.”

“In Germany or Europe, when you get injured and fail to recover in two or three weeks’ time, they halt your salary. So after the injury, Schalke stopped paying me which cost me big money. “

Anthony Annan, 37, never returned to the Black Stars after the big injury and subsequently retired from international football.



EE/EK