Al Ain: These are testing times for Ghana captain Asamoah Gyan. The recent allegations that he killed his friend and Ghanaian rapper Castro as part of a ritual sacrifice is clearly hurting the star Al Ain forward.
“I’m feeling it and it is a difficult situation right now. He was my friend, you know. I don’t know if he is there or no and we are still waiting,” said Gyan after his club Al Ain crashed out of the AFC Champions League.
Afrobeats artist Castro went missing along with friend Janet Bandu in July. They disappeared while using jet skis on holiday with former Sunderland striker Gyan’s family in the Ghanaian coastal town of Ada.
Though no bodies were recovered, rumours continued last month when Gyan’s brother, Baffour Gyan, was alleged to have been part of a gang, which attacked a journalist who had asked the player about the rumours. Baffour Gyan’s assault charges were however dropped later.
The 28-year-old Gyan released a statement that read: “What sells in the media, and what indeed sold and is still selling in the media in Ghana are wild allegations and rumours directed especially at Asamoah Gyan — ranging from the absurd — of the imputation of criminality to him in the sense that he either murdered Castro or had him kidnapped —— and ending with the ludicrous — that he sacrificed him spiritually to enhance his career.”
When asked if it was still playing on his mind, Gyan said: “It is very,very depressing for me and my family. But life goes on.”
Not only Gyan’s game has been affected with the turnaround of events but Tuesday night also saw him losing his cool after being shown the red card in Al Ain’s ‘Do-or die’ match. He was seen exchanging word with Hilal’s Romanian mid-fielder Mihai Pintilii after being handed the marching orders following a harsh tackle on Saudi Arabia winger Salem Al Dawsari. The incident almost resulted in a free-for-all and there was plenty of pushing and shoving between the players of both teams.
“I must confess it was a harsh tackle. But in my mind I did not go for the player, I just went in strong for the ball. I am a professional. The referee took his decision. It is football so I cannot complain. I lost my head a bit but life goes on,” said Gyan, adding that he was really upset with Pintilii’s remark after that foul.
“The player has no right to tell me what he did. He said something to me which made me upset. I don’t want to say what he said in front of the media but he knows what he said. He said an abusive word — I really didn’t like it,” added Gyan, who had been the top scorer in the tournament until the semis. Gyan had been completely off-colour in the last two games of AFC Champions League. He was far from his self in the first leg in Riyadh, which Al Hilal coach Romanian coach Laurentiu Reghecampf summed up before the second leg as: “I didn’t see Gyan do much in the attack in the first leg. So we are not worried.”
Gyan, however, was far more purposeful on Tuesday and came close to scoring several times but his renowned magical touch somehow eluded him.
“It was a tough game and we came to score some goals and make sure we qualify. It didn’t happen and we just have to accept what happened and move on,” said Gyan, adding, “I wasn’t lucky today. I must say sometimes it comes. As a striker these things do happen to us. Sometimes you do your best to score and it doesn’t come up. I’m a striker and I do believe in my quality and I know I will comeback strongly.”
