Sports News of Friday, 23 July 2021
Source: ghanaguardian.com
2021-07-23
Ghana captain Andre Ayew
Ghana captain Andre Ayew will for the first time in about 14 years play his club football outside the shores of Europe since breaking out at French side Marseille in 2007.
The former Swansea star has since turning a professional plied his entire trade in the brisk and competitive leagues across Europe but is now heading to the Gulf region in the twilight of his career in what is seen by many as a final pay day.
He has played in the major leagues in France, England, Turkey and then the English Championship in his career.
Whiles with Marseille the forward won the French Super Cup and then French League cup in club football in his European career which spans more than a decade.
He came through the ranks at Marseille but not before he was sent out on loan at Loreient in 2008/2009 and then Arles Avignon in 2009/2010 where he cut his teeth in senior football after primarily playing with the youth side.
After his stellar loan spell he was given a chance in the Marseille first team squad where he shinned and made a total of 160 appearances for the French giants whiles scoring 44 goals.
Despite the fact that Marseille were keen to extend his stay the Ghanaian forward refused to extend his contract and joined Swansea for his first spell in 2015 as a free agent.
At Swansea he announced himself by scoring on his debut against Chelsea in an opening day 2-2 draw game at the Stamford Bridge.
He went on to score 12 goals for the Welsh club in 34 appearances prompting the hammers to come calling before paying Swansea a record £20.5 million for his signature.
The Ghanaian lasted two years at West Ham but his time there was one to forget as injuries and poor form meant he scored 12 goals in 50 matches in all competitions before making a return to Swansea on transfer deadline day in January 2018.
He was unable to prevent the Swans from being relegated as they went down that season but he quickly left after that season on loan to Fernerbache were it ended in tears.
Andre Ayew struggled at Fenerbahce in the 2018/2019 season playing 29 matches whiles scoring 5 goals during his loan spell.
Ayew made a return to Swansea for his third stint and lasted for two season from 2019-2021 where he was top scorer in all two seasons with the club playing in the Championship play offs although they failed to qualify in all two attempts.
The Black Stars captain will be playing for the first time in Asia and will be expecting in the Asian Champions League with his new side Al-Sadd.