Black Stars captain, Asamoah Gyan, has announced his retirement from the national team barely 24 hours to the naming of the provisional team for the tournament.
The Kayserispor player made the announcement on Monday evening via a statement he posted on his Twitter handle.
In the statement, he expressed happiness at having been given the chance to serve the nation but he sounded very unhappy that he was not going to be named captain of the team even if he were to be included in the squad.
Thank you Ghana, am forever grateful 🙏 @AnimSammy @BaffourGyan4 @cobbyafriyie pic.twitter.com/xDaUKxeIOn
— ASAMOAH GYAN (@ASAMOAH_GYAN3) May 20, 2019
Gyan, in the statement, said:
“Upon consultation with my family and team, and as an active footballer and captain of the national team, if the decision of the coach is to give the captaincy of the tournament to another player while I am named in the team for the tournament, I wish to recuse myself from the tournament. I also wish to retire from the national team permanently; not pretending my presence would not fuel the reported undermining the country has seen under my captaincy.”
Gyan has been captain of the national team since 2012 and led the nation to the 2013, 2015 and 2017 editions of the African Nations Cup.