Top five defining moments of Asamoah Gyan’s career

The former Ghana captain will bring loads of experience to the Highlanders' ranks.

Asamoah Gyan has been an absolute stellar figure in Ghana and as well as Africa’s footballing progression in the 21st century. Now, in a dramatic turn of events, NorthEast United FC have roped in Gyan who was a free agent after his stint with Turkish club Kayserispor concluded at the end of the previous season.

The 33-year-old has joined the Highlanders after an incredible club career spanning the last 16 campaigns. Right now, his statistics read as 173 goals from 333 matches across the nine franchises that he has represented ever since 2003. He has had a fantastic international stint with Ghana too. Gyan has bagged a record 51 goals from 107 matches for his nation. As of now, the NorthEast United FC could really capitalize on the bundles of experience that the former Sunderland striker would bring to the team.

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Factfile: NorthEast United FC new signing Asamoah Gyan

Here, we look at the five most defining moments of his career so far:

5. 2006 FIFA World Cup

The 2006 FIFA World Cup was a rollercoaster ride for Gyan. However, to highlight at the positive side from his perspective in that tournament, he scored the fast goal of that edition in merely 68 seconds. This happened against Czech Republic on 17th June at the RheinEnergieStadion. To make the moment even more special, it was Ghana’s first ever goal in the history of the FIFA World Cup.

Gyan had set the base for them to defeat Czech by a margin of 2-0 eventually. However, later on in the tournament, Gyan was sent off in the 81st minute in their Round of 16 clash against Brazil. Nevertheless, it was a commendable run for a then-novice team like Ghana and Asamoah Gyan had laid the base for their further performances in the competition.

4. The run at Rennes: 

Even after that epoch-making goal in the 2006 World Cup, Gyan’s career had never taken off in a way that the masses would have expected it to considering the innate talent that the man possesses. To put into a clearer context, barring the season where he played for the Liberty Professionals in the Ghana Premier League in 2003, he had never entered the double-digit mark in his goal-scoring tally. This barren period included a three-year stint divided in two spells with Udinese as well.

However, at Rennes he really made a name for himself as a potent goal bagger. In the 2009-10 campaign, he notched 13 of them in 29 league matches. Rennes finished at the ninth spot in the points table, and they owed it to the Ghanaian’s purple patch that season. It is even more fascinating considering the fact that Gyan had managed to put the ball behind the net only once in 16 matches in the season preceding the 2009/10 one.

For him to cast aside that bleak campaign and bounce back in form in such style required some serious character, which the forward displayed with a noteworthy run afterwards.

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3. Joining Sunderland

 Gyan had an instant impact with the Black Cats

For someone who progressed ahead in his career from the wilderness of the Ghana Premier League, the momentous move to the English Premier League was definitely a remarkable feat in Gyan’s career. Sunderland bid almost 13 million pounds for his signature, which was the highest transfer fee ever paid by the club for a particular player. However, his stature had improved manifold during his last season with Rennes and hence unsurprisingly, Sunderland were willing to go beyond their saturation limit in terms of spending to secure the then 24-year-old’s move.

Asamoah Gyan didn’t disappoint, even though one can argue that his term with the Black Cats could have been much longer. He appeared 31 times for Sunderland in the Premiership and scored 10 goals for them that season. Danny Welbeck was the next highest goal-scorer for them with six of them, and that just signifies the impact that Gyan had in their season back then. They jumped from the 13th place finish from the previous season to a 10th place conclusion this time around and even defeated defending champions Chelsea by a margin of 3-0 where Gyan had nicked a goal in too.

2. Terrific Triple Delight with Al Ain

After a fairly successful season with Sunderland, many would have expected him to continue with them furthermore and attain greater heights in arguably the toughest league of European football. However, in a sudden change of events, Asamoah Gyan moved to the UAE Pro League club Al Ain in the very next season itself. Later on, he spoke about this premature end to his time in the Premier League.

Gyan said: “Look, I’m going, to be honest here, it was the money. It was too good to turn down but a hidden detail is that Sunderland accepted a £7m loan offer for me from Al Ain before even informing me. Then they decided to convince me that the money was very good for a short loan and that the club needed the money. I was enjoying my football but Al Ain offered me wages that instantly made me the best-paid footballer in Africa. I couldn’t resist.”

Well, to each their own and hence we would refrain from passing verdicts regarding Gyan’s decision to choose money over a career at the top-flight football in England. However, he did have an immensely successful time in the UAE. He scored 95 goals in 83 matches over the course of four seasons and won the league title thrice in that time span with the club. Notably enough, he carved a meritorious impact with his performances, and is still revered for his contributions for the league and the club himself. This was the time when he really came to his own and thrived as the striker of Al Ain.

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1. Landmark achievement for Ghana

Amongst all the numerous feats that he has attained throughout the course of his career, in my opinion, none can come close to his 50th strike for the national team in 2017. Gyan scored in Ghana’s 5-0 rout of Ethiopia in the 2019 African Cup of Nations Qualifier. There are some peculiar factors that elevate this particular goal as the best moment of his career.

Firstly, he joined the noble list of the likes of Samuel Eto’o, Didier Drogba, Godfrey Chitalu and Hossam Hassan as the African players who have scored 50 goals or more for their national teams respectively. He became the first Ghanaian player to reach this landmark feat. Kwaisi Owusu and Abedi Pele follow Asamoah Gyan in the second and third spots with 36 and 33 goals respectively.

The vast gap between their records display how far ahead has the now-NEUFC striker been with respect to his peers from the same country. For his astounding achievements and contributions towards Ghana’s footballing narrative and his enormously successful club career, Gyan deserves plenty of applause and recognition from the NorthEast United fans when he turns up in their jersey at the time the season commences.