A member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Kojo Twum Boafo, has questioned Andre Ayew’s leadership qualities, insisting his Black Stars captaincy must be stripped off.
The Al Sadd forward was named as the captain of the national team ahead of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations [AFCON] hosted in Egypt.
However, Boafo asserted that the former Swansea City and West Ham forward is at the tail end of his career and thus he should be left out of the Black Stars rebuilding process.
According to him, the Black Stars must be rebuilt around a player who is capable of leading on the pitch and the dressing room.
Yeah, I agree with that because the results have shown and another thing is he is not going to play in the next two matches because of the red card,” he told GhanaWeb’s sports check.
The qualification for the World Cup is more important than the AFCON if you ask me. So I think yes those calls are very matched in other. And Andre will be the first person to tell you that he is not really the player he used to be. He is 32, he is in the twilight of his career. He is playing in the Middle East.
I think that some of the young players will be given the mantle for them to show what they can do. I don’t know who the leader in the dressing and the leader on the pitch will be at the moment, it would appear it Thomas Party. But at the very least there should be a transition and we have to build the team around somebody who can,” he added.
Ayew saw a red card in Ghana’s final game at the AFCON against Comoros and he will miss the Black Stars’ FIFA World Cup qualifier against Nigeria, as a result.
According to Twum Boafo, if Ghana are able to qualify for the World Cup the team that secured the qualification should be maintained for the tournament proper.
“We are going to play a crucial qualifier against Nigeria, you can have somebody else captaining the team through that and if we qualify and I hope and pray and believe will qualify then you change the team’s dynamics again. These are the things that bring the problems.”
The Black Stars will play the first leg at home before travelling to Abuja for the second all fixtures will be played in March.