National Democratic Congress (NDC) member Kojo Twum Boafo says Andre Ayew’s leadership qualities not glaring for everyone to see and insist his Black Stars captaincy must be stripped off immediately before going into the playoffs.
Ayew has been Ghana’s captain since 2019 when he was appointed by coach Kwasi Appiah going to Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Egypt.
The NDC man, Boafo believes that the former the Al Sadd SC forward is at the very end of his career and for that matter should be left out of the Black Stars rebuilding projects.
He further stated that Ghana needs a leader both in the dressing room and on the field and thinks Ayew should be overlooked and choose a new and vibrant young leader.
“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.
The former Swansea City AFC, West Ham United and Olympic Marseille man was red carded in Ghana’s final game at the AFCON against Comoros and he will miss the Black Stars’ FIFA World Cup qualifier against Nigeria in March.
He also stated that, should Ghana qualify for the World Cup, the team that secured qualification should be maintained for the tournament in Qatar later this year.
“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 withing a week in next month’s international break.
