Black Stars head coach Otto Addo has stated that dropping Andre Dede Ayew from the team was a very difficult decision but was one of the decisions best for the team.
He said this in his speech delivered at a Meet The Press event at the Ghana Football Association (GFA) Headquarters where he announced his latest call ups.
The 26 man squad had stalwarts like Thomas Partey, Jordan Ayew, Mohammed Salisu, Lawrence Ati Zigi, Mohammed Kudus and Gideon Mensah named for upcoming 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Mali and Central African Republic.
However, longstanding Black Stars captain Andre Ayew was not named in the squad despite starring for Le Havre in the French Ligue 1 and for Otto Addo, the decision to drop him was far from easy.
“I don’t talk about the players who are not in the squad, more about those who are in the squad. I talk to players directly I don’t like to give information out about what we spoke about. It was a difficult decision to be honest because I like him as a person and also as a player.”
“It’s not like we totally agreed, but I gave him the explanation. It’s very very difficult to leave him out at the moment but at the end, me as a coach I have to take decisions, the best decisions what I think for the team and this was one of part of the decisions.”
