Performance, age, discipline: Otto Addo must explain Andre ‘retirement’ - Top ex-Black Stars player

A unnamed former Black Stars player has demanded further and better particulars from Black Stars coach, Otto Addo, over the exclusion of Dede Ayew from his latest call-up.

The player, in a chat with sports journalist Saddick Adams, demanded that Otto Addo comes clean on the reasons Dede Ayew has been dropped, warning that it was important to ensure exit from the team is done properly to avert players harbouring pain and ill-will against the team.

Adams, alias Sports Obama narrated the concerns of the ex-player in a presentation on his YouTube page on June 3, 2024.

“A big man called me, he was warning that players should not be made to quit Black Stars team with bitterness. He is a top ex-Black Stars player. He says a lot of the Black Stars players can from afar see that the team can’t make progress because of the pain they harbour against the side,” he stated.

Saddick cited the example of Awuley Quaye Jnr who is on record to have rejected a national flag being used to drape his coffin.

He continued to recount the former player’s concern: “The Dede Ayew episode is confusing because when Dede was without a team or was playing in a lower league, he was invited.

“Why is it that now that he is with a regular club and is playing regularly in the French League, players below his quality are called yet he is supposedly retired. If it is because of age, there are called-up players older than him, if it is about performance, he is doing better than others.

“If it is a disciplinary issue, we need to know,” he stressed.

The exclusion of Dede in Otto Addo’s squad is believed to be in line with the coach’s bid to build a new Black Stars side using younger players.

Otto reportedly met with Dede to explain matters to him before the squad for two World Cup qualifiers was announced weeks back.

SARA