Sola Ayew not surprised by Andre's snub

Sola Ayew says he is not surprised by CAF’s decision to drop Andre Ayew for the 2012 African Player of the Year Award.

The Ghana international was part of an initial five-man shortlist but failed to make the final cut when it was whittled down to three.


Cameroon midfielder Alexander Song shockingly made the shortlist alongside Didier Drogba and Yaya Toure ahead of the Olympique Marseille player despite not winning anything in Europe and was absent at the 2012 Nations Cup.


CAF’s highly contentious awards is likely to receive further bashing following the earlier snub of Christopher Katongo who captained Zambia to their first ever continental title earlier this year in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.


But Sola Ayew says he is not surprised by the omission of his nephew for the award which will be handed out on December 20 in Accra.


“For me lets agree somebody like Andre has a long way to go,” he told Joy Sports.

“And lets also agree he is just coming back from injury and I don’t know their reason (for dropping him).


“We are not surprised, football is football so I am not surprised anyway.”


Ayew’s exclusion from the shortlist meant Ghana’s wait for the personal accolade is further extended since the last time, coincidentally, Andre’s father, Abedi Pele won it in 1993.


The 22-year-old becomes the third Ghanaian in the space of a month to have failed to make the final cut for a global award.


Christian Atsu and Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu were also snubbed for Europe’s Golden Boy and FIFA Goal of the Year Award respectively.