My Take On Baby Jet’s Flight To The Gulf (Al Ain)

Skipper of the Black Stars, John Mensah, once told JOY Sports that; footballers were like birds in flight, they all play for the money; this was in response to whether or not he was going to move to a new club, this was seasons back.

But fast-forward to recent times and one is left with no option than to at least keep wondering the many other reasons for which footballer join and quit clubs to join others.

The subject of player transfers especially the high profile – record breaking and very protracted moves – are commonplace especially within football circles and for that matter locally and internationally.

But within the current football milieu, a move by a Ghanaian player is certainly making the waves not just in Ghana but at his former club and all over the world given how popular this player was barely over a year back at South Africa 2010.

Asamoah Gyan; had gained worldwide acclaim and ‘pity’ when on the brink of making history by booking Africa’s first ever semi final berth in the World Cup, the man rather unbelievably missed the kick when it mattered most.

That Ghana’s lead striker; Asamoah Gyan had decided to ply his trade in the gulf with Al Ain, instead of staying with Sunderland in the more popular and competitive English Premier League (EPL).

Certainly, many were those who would not have seen this coming. At least with the European transfer season having closed in late August. All through the transfer window, I personally hardly heard of any concrete bid for Gyan to expect to have moved from Sunderland at least within Europe.

The week before Sunderland played against Chelsea, I heard the manager Steve Bruce lament bitterly about how Gyan, since scoring for Ghana against England at Wembley, had been approached by all manner of people who’d wanted to secure him a bigger club considering his pedigree.

In Bruce’s words; *"Since that game at Wembley, all the parasites, as I call them, hover around. People are in his ear constantly trying to engineer a deal for him. He was going from Real Madrid to Bayern Munich to Valencia to Atletico Madrid.”*

At close of the window, Bruce stated thus: *"I had a conversation with him two days ago to say, 'Look, the window is now closed, Asa. Right, we need to see you back playing again and back the way you know you can play."*

Little wonder that Bruce was shocked at Gyan’s exit even though he must have been informed by the Sunderland board of the move, he was as disappointed as many soccer fans were and still are by the move.

In any case, I guess a financially constrained Sunderland found the deal lucrative as much as the officials of Al Ain found the player crucial to their season. But Bruce who has at the least opportunity sung Gyan’s praises – not to say it is wrong – has also contributed to what he currently feels so bad about.

Here is a player who we are told just a year into his contract was asking for a salary raise, as if that was not enough he has developed a negative attitude to training because of phantom moves ostensibly to a bigger club.

I say phantom because, Sunderland as Bruce confirmed had not received a single offer from any ‘Top’ team for Gyan’s services away from the Stadium of Light; be it on loan or otherwise.

What then was the basis for Gyan’s negative attitude to training if really there wasn’t a deal on the lines for him? Can I safely state that if care isn’t taken traces of this negative attitude could creep into the Black Stars?

Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn is quoted as having said that Gyan’s negative attitude in pre-season coupled with the juicy nature of the offer meant the club had to accept it much as the player was also interested.

My very small concern in the general scheme of events has to do with Bruce’s ourburst about Gyan’s future with the Black Cats being over and that he wasn’t going to return to Sunderland plus Gyan’s own disposition seasons past.

Bruce as manager obviously would be pivotal to whether or not Gyan is relevant to the Sunderland cause for as long as he remains manager and his comments – described by many as scathing, albeit I choose to call it blistering.

Gyan’s got to bend over backwards and look how far he’s come in the last year. This undoubtedly is critical.

On the point about his personal disposition seasons past, if his injury record is anything to go by, the man certainly would find it really difficult getting any consistency whatsoever, I doubt if that would affect his national team chances but it certainly would tell on his return to Sunderland 12 months from now.

Overall, the senior national team, the Black Stars, have had a torrid transfer period without any significant moves by any player of Stevanovic’s team.

Gyan’s move unquestionably the sticking point, Al Ain, I am sure are ready to lose Gyan for the six weeks period (during the African Nations Cup) that most English managers loathe and rue so painfully about.

And so for whatever it is that Gyan agreed to quit England (Sunderland) for Dubai (Al Ain), familial, monetary as is widely speculated, personal, strategic as is being bandied about etc. I find it interesting and wish the Jet a safe flight to and from the gulf.

© Abdur Rahman Shaban Alfa

alfarsenal@yahoo.com/ newcguide@gmail.com