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Sports News of Wednesday, 27 April 2016

Source: goal.com

Have injuries robbed Asamoah of another career success?

Kwadwo Asamoah Kwadwo Asamoah

Kwadwo Asamoah continues to rack up career honours at an impressive rate.

While no other Ghanaian player can match Sammy Kuffour's terrific haul of major European championships—the centre-back won six Bundesligas with Bayern Munich—Kojo is fast closing in on the Black Stars legend.

As Roma defeated Napoli on Monday, Juve were crowned Italian champions for a record fifth consecutive season.

It's an astonishing record, but one made all the more impressive considering the Old Lady's miserable start to the campaign.

Massimiliano Allegri's reigning champions took only one point from their first three matches of the 2015-16 campaign and were a whopping 11 points behind the leaders on the morning of October 31.

However, since then, the Turin giants have won a remarkable 24 matches out of 25—with a 0-0draw against Bologna the only blemish—and their relentless success has taken then to a 32nd Italian title, seeing off rivals such as Inter Milan, Roma, Napoli and Fiorentina in the process.

Asamoah featured for just six minutes on Sunday as Juve saw off Fiorentina to move to the brink of securing the title—his fourth since moving to Turin from Udinese in 2012.

As Kojo completes his quartet, he equals Michael Essien, who also won two major European league titles—two with Lyon and two with Chelsea—and further away from the likes of Kevin-Prince Boateng and Sulley Muntari who have one and two major titles respectively.

The iconic Stephen Appiah never won the Serie A crown during his spells with six different Italian clubs, while Asamoah firmly pulls clear from Abedi Pele, who won three French titles with Olympique de Marseille—of which the third was revoked.

Despite making over 150 league appearances for OM, Andre Ayew never won the French title, yet Kojo already has four!

Just under a year ago, when Juventus beat Sampdoria 1-0 to win their fourth consecutive title, I wrote the following about Asamoah's contribution to that triumph: " While there will be jubilation in Turin this week, Asamoah may reflect on the triumph with mixed emotions.

"Injured since November 4, the 26-year-old has made only six appearances in the top-flight so far this term, although he may be in a position to contribute in the run-in having recently returned to training."

Ultimately, the midfielder—now 27—made only one further appearance, capping off a miserable campaign in which he managed only 621 minutes of Serie A action.

Few would have imagined, back at the tail end of the 2014-15 season, that the resurgent Asamoah would be set to embark on an even more testing campaign the year later.

Yet that's exactly what's happened, with injuries and long spells on the sidelines again ruining the versatile star's contribution.

With three matches still to play, Kojo has managed just nine league outings, of which only four have been starts. He's accumulated just 411 minutes on the pitch, and not made a single decisive contribution.

Back in October, I asked whether Asamoah could be the man to complete Avram Grant's Ghana jigsaw, but still, exactly 17 months into the Israeli coach's reign, he hasn't yet been able to use Kojo in the heart of his midfield.

While I am still hopeful that the 27-year-old will have a role to play for Grant's Black Stars moving forward, it's of major concern that Asamoah has managed just 16 league appearances to date in the last two seasons.

Putting that into context, the famously injury-prone Essien—a player whose inactivity has been incessantly lamented—never managed fewer than 25 league appearances over any two-season spell.

As Asamoah has demonstrated in some of his rare showings this season—notably the 4-0 demolition of former club Udinese and the narrow home triumph over Sassuolo—he remains a class act when fit, but it's disastrous that he's spent two of his peak years in the treatment room.

His peripheral contribution to the last two seasons also raises questions about just how history will view his achievements in Italy.

By now, Asamoah should have been a key figure in Allegri's side, either taking a spot in the midfield alongside Paul Pogba, Claudio Marchisio, and Sami Khedira, or as an upgrade on and successor for 34-year-old Patrice Evra on the left.

Perhaps the 2016-17 season will realise the promise where the 2015-16 campaign failed, but it remains to be seen how long Juve will continue to persist with a player who has yet to prove that he can be a long-term solution on the left.

He may have pulled away from Abedi Pele, tied with Essien on four, and closed the gap to Sammy Kuffour, but until he can prove his fitness again and establish himself as a key man at Juve, there will always be a cautionary note attached to Asamoah's club success.