By Sabotage Times
The Ayew family can be proud. Andre is a Ghanaian international as is his younger brother and as were his uncle and his dad.
But Andre just went a step higher than most and joined his father – the brilliant midfielder from the winning Marseille side of the early 90’s nicknamed Abedi Pele – by winning the BBC African player of the year.
Exactly 20 years since his father, Andre grabs his first individual trophy and could really be shortly in the need of upgrading its trophy cabinet.
He has the perfect ''rising star'' status stuck to him for a few months and keeps on improving, thus disappointing nobody.
Born in France in 1989, he quickly walked into his father’s footsteps by joining the Olympique de Marseille youth program as a forward on his 16th birthday.
Two years later he was given a ligue 1 debut as well as champions league appearances by Belgian coach Eric Gerets.
Considered a bit tender he was then sent on loan to French sides, Lorient first Arles-Avignon then to get more playing time and get him accustomed to top tier football.
Surprisingly, his international football career decided to take off before he could make his name famous at club level.
He honored his first cap for Ghana as early as the summer of 2007, and never left the squad since.
Except for a month, in September 2009, when he played a key role in the Ghanaian team crowned U20 world champion.
Then he made it to the 2010 Africa cup of nations’ final before being named in the squad for the South African world cup.
There he was impressive enough to earn a nomination for the best young player of the tournament awarded by the FIFA.
He most remarkably provided the assist for the winning goal in the round of 16 encounter with the USA (the goal being scored by his predecessor on the African player of the year’s list, Gyan Asamoah).
Unfortunately on this day he also collected a yellow card banning him from playing in the quarter final against Uruguay.
On his way back to Marseille, Andre could begin to hear plenty of rumors coming from big European clubs trying to lure him away.
Fortunately, Marseille’ staff heard that too and promptly offered a contract extension to their new gem. The new deal is currently linking him to the club until June 2014.
Andre was now consistent in receiving praise from about anybody following every league game.
Despite a field position set on the wing, he scored 13 goals during the previous term and fairly deserved his nomination for the ligue 1 young player of the season.
Acclaimed for his creativity, Andre is truly inspirational for his teammates. Trained as a winger, he has been able to avoid the failures of bigger names at the club such as Lucho Gonzales (attacking midfielder) or André-Pierre Gignac (striker).
This is mainly due to his various range of skills. Indeed, none of the usual football skills would be met by a 10 out of 10 mark with Andre, but he would easily provide a record sheet with a 7 or an 8 on every line, even the most surprising ones.
This year is providing a confirmation of his talent, showing his abilities to everyone in Europe through the champions league in addition to the domestic fixtures.
To this extend, the double meeting with not-so-long-ago Champions league winner FC Internazionale could be his best occasion to shine in front of some of the most notable scouts in Europe.
Seeing him leaving France in order to match his ferocious ambitions seems inevitable. The questions remaining are when and where to.
The upcoming winter transfer window shouldn’t see him leave Marseille unless an Arabian sheikh lays silly money on the table.
A move this summer seems much more plausible, especially if Marseille fails to secure a spot for the next Champions league, something which would put the club in a desperate need of money.
Then premier league seems to be a destination of choice for him. With long term target Eden Hazard about to join Chelsea, Arsenal can ill-afford to let another player they admire slip through the net…