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Sports News of Monday, 20 April 2020

Source: ghanasoccernet.com

Asamoah Gyan reveals relationship strained with coach Kwesi Appiah over Black Stars captaincy

Kwesi Appiah and Asamoah Gyan Kwesi Appiah and Asamoah Gyan

Ghana legend Asamoah Gyan has revealed that his relationship with former Black Stars coach Kwesi Appiah has been damaged because of the way he was stripped of the captaincy of the side.

Gyan, who led the national team for more than five years, was dropped by coach Appiah as the captain of the side ahead of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations competition in Egypt.

The two men were close friends prior to the tournament played in July last year but Appiah stunned the entire country when he announced Andre Ayew as his new leader.

Gyan, who is Ghana's all-time leading scorer, was axed as the substantive captain of the side even though he was named in the squad for the competition.

This prompted the striker's to announce his retirement from the national team before the country President Nana Akufo Addo intervened to get him to reverse the decision.

Despite reversing the decision and joining the squad for the tournament in Egypt, Gyan reveals that his relationship with coach has been completely damaged.

"Honestly I think the relationship is a bit broken because of what happened,” Gyan said in an interview with TV3’s Juliet Bawuah.

"I don’t know whether its his conscience or it is my conscience but the relationship(gap) between me and him is a bit wide.

"Because I haven’t spoken to him in a while which is a bit strange," said Gyan who spoke on daily basis before the disagreement broke out.

However the former Black Stars captain says he would not hesitate to reach out to his former coach when they meet in public.

“Normally we do talk, but we haven’t spoken in a while, but its cool. Any time I see him we will have our normal chat and our normal jokes and everything,” Gyan added.

Kwesi Appiah was fired as the coach of the side after the Black Stars disappointingly bombed out of the tournament at the quarter-final stage against Tunisia.