We have to move on from money controversies

Black Stars vice-captain Andre Ayew.

There is something profoundly engaging about interviewing Dede Ayew. In an era when interviews with sportsmen can be a tedious job of meandering questions, same old standard answers and an unwillingness to open up, the 25-year old tends to stand out.

We saw a bit of that when he faced the media after he was named the Sportsman of The Year by SWAG and then delivered a passionate defence of his fellow Black Stars against the widespread and legitimate suspicion that too often they hold this nation to ransom.

Days later we meet at his East Legon home to discuss a first season in English football that shot up his popularity ratings and won more critics over. But with Dede, the conversation should never be about only football. Family (nuclear and extended), cars, fashion and money all figure heavily in our conversation.

He talks about how fatherhood has changed him and made him a better person with the smile of a little kid. There is that same smile when he says after many years he and Jordan Ayew, his brother have finally gotten used to being asked perpetually about their father and how the Premier League’s intensity and attention to detail blew him over.

Andre Ayew and the love for cars.

When our conversation veers off into cars and why it seems to matter to so many sports, Dede pauses before turning it effectively into a wider discussion. “I don’t think we are necessarily obsessed with cars,” he says. “ I think you people love cars and if you are lucky to be involved in a profession as we are that pays you well and helps you afford the things you like then you would. I am convinced a lot of you people if they have the means would do as we do; buy cars that make them happy without spending recklessly.”

Money was a belated topic in our conversation and inevitably in relation to the Black Stars. It has become the one subject no Black Stars player has been able to escape in recent interviews. The tone of the discourse has been poisoned at times with a feeling that members of the Black Stars simply pull on the jersey to make money while passing on the emotional toil of failure to fans.

Dede disagrees and has often rolled out several reasons why the players are getting a raw deal in the discourse. The reference to players who have all been injured on international duty and the pleas for fans to continue to back is Dede’s way of dousing the flames.

Andre Ayew joined Swansea City in the English Premier League at the start of last season.

But even he is getting tired of the subject. “We should just put it behind us and move forward because we the players we love the country the same way they love the country. We want to keep making the country proud and the only way we can do that is when we see them backing us. We want a return to the days when teams like Zambia and Egypt came to our home, saw the crowd and passion and knew they could beat us because our fans were with is.”

That backing from home fans has become even more important for Ayew given the year ahead for Ghana. Dede wants intimidating atmospheres at home for world cup qualifiers against Congo, Egypt and Uganda and then unconditional backing for the Nations Cup campaign in January in Gabon.

He has listened to much of the commentary about how the road to the world cup would be easy especially after the complete dominance of Egypt the last time around and is mortified.

“I think that all is going to be very difficult.  Different ways maybe but same games, same pressure, same goal for every team which is to qualify for the World Cup. It is also going to be a long year for all the teams. We have the African Cup of Nations, plus the world cup qualifiers so everybody needs to be focused  and especially consistent if we want to qualify.”

While the world cup has become something that Ghana almost feels it has a right to, winning the Nations Cup for the first time in more than three decades has become a national obsession. Ayew feels that should be priority at least in the interim.

Jordan Ayew and brother Andre Ayew.

 The Nations Cup reminds Dede of some of his most painful moments with the Black Stars but is it also what drives his strongest resolve at the moment which is to become an African champion with Ghana.

Dede was on the teams that lost the 2010 and 2015 finals and is keen for that not to happen again.

“We should be calm, we should be relaxed because it’s going to be a very tough tournament so if we get there with a lot of pressure already we have more chance of coming early. I think we have to be calm, we have to be ourselves.  We know our quality so we need to give our best and be better than we were in 2010 and 2015 when we lost the finals. After those finals, you come back home and feel a lot of pains because we deserved to win in those finals, two of them hands down”

Nothing, Dede says can wipe  away the pain of losing those two finals but the last one year at club level surely has made up for some of that. He scored twelve goals in his debut EPL season and firmly entrenched himself as one of Africa’s top players if ever there was any doubt.

“We know the hype, we know the media force behind the EPL and we know that it is the best league in the world too”, he says. “Things went on well for the first year, thank God for that and i think that was what helped me get more recognition especially in places where people do not really know me. You know England is a country where a lot of the people watch the league and in different countries from Japan to China to Korea. So if you play in that league and things go well, you get recognition from all over the world which is pleasing for a player.”

Andre Ayew's back heel goal against AFC Bournemouth. (BPI/Dimitris Legakis)

 There were many moments to relish for Dede. The back heel goal against Bournemouth, that thrilling assist as Swansea beat Manchester United and the day he and brother Jordan turned the EPL into the Ayew family show with his proud dad watching.

Dede’s big moment though is none of those. “That would be my first goal against Chelsea, because it was my first EPL game, Chelsea was the defending champions then, we went to the champions ground and had a good results over there, we drew and i scored my first goal and that I think it was a great feeling. It gave me a lot of confidence for the rest of the games.”

He would be eager to enjoy many more of such moments as the crucial second season sets in.


Source.pulse.com.gh