Former Ghana and Bayern Munich legend, Sammy Kufuor says the whole drama which arose due to the change in the captaincy of the Black Stars prior to the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations tournament could have been avoided.
Kwasi Appiah then coach of the Black Stars stripped Asamoah Gyan of the captaincy and awarded it to Andre Ayew before the tournament.
The move saw Asamoah Gyan retiring from the national team but later had to reverse his decision following an intervention by President Nana Akufo-Addo.
Sammy Kufuor who was then part of the Normalisation Committee of the Ghana FA revealed that the NC was powerless in that decision-taking by Kwasi Appiah and it had to be take a high authority to make Asamoah Gyan rescind his decision.
“It was a bit disturbing for the NC. I could see that some people are hit somewhere. You could see that Asamoah [Gyan] was really hurt about the whole situation,” he said on Joy FM.
“It goes all the way to the President [Akufo-Addo] so NC had become limited. NC had nothing more to say about it. That is why the President came in and spoke to the two players with the coach and the [sports] ministry. In my view, it was a little bit hectic. Why couldn’t we wait until after the tournament then we make the change the captaincy?
“That period, Kwasi Appiah in my view should have probably had a second thought about the whole issue before making that decision [changing captains] and I think he [Asamoah Gyan] shouldn’t have said he wanted to retire. He should have calmed down. When you say those things, people may take it for granted.”
In his view, he would have let Asamoah Gyan captain the team at the AFCON.
"I would just leave it as it is [If I were Kwesi Appiah]. Asamoah Gyan is the captain. If he doesn’t play, Andre is the captain. Andre is like the second captain. He will wear the armband.”
"That will seal the case. For bringing Andre in and Asamoah out with the atmosphere and all that. They can laugh but within their hearts, how well would [they collaborate]?”, he added.