Former Sports Minister under the erstwhile regime, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah says that the decision on Asamoah Gyan's quest to join the traveling party to the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup as a player should be left in the hands of head coach Otto Addo.

The 36-year-old striker has signaled his intent to be among Ghana's squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup which has drawn a lot of comments.

Gyan has not been playing active football since departing Legon Cities in April 2021 but claims that he has not retired from active football.

Asamoah Gyan during his heydays played for the likes of Udinese, Rennes, Al Ain, and Shanghai SIPG among other clubs in a career spanning more than two decades.

“It’s entirely up to the coach, he has to assess him, his physical fitness, mental fitness and match fitness because those are different levels. You have to be physically fit, your state of mind and then match fitness which also has to do with the track record watching you in real competitive matches or training sessions to see if you’re still sharp. So those are not decisions that I can just sit in my room and say yes or no. Those are decisions that those who are responsible have to do all the analysis and decide based on the facts and evidence, not on sentiments and emotions,” Afriyie Ankrah said on Luv FM.

The former minister also added that the playing squad to the Mundial will be decided by the coach's strategy.

“Also based on the team’s strategy, we are going into a World Cup and the technical people will have a strategy as to the kind of formation that they want to use. Whether they want to use an attacking predominant type of team, or midfield predominant because we have a lot of talents at that department of our team or defensive like the so-called one goal project type of thing. So again, all these are things that those who are responsible will have to make a firm decision on.”

The striker is the highest scoring African player at the FIFA World Cup with six goals having played in three editions in 2006, 2010 and 2014.
He is Ghana's record scorer with 51 goals in 109 matches and wants to remain in the game after his official retirement.

Asamoah Gyan recently launched his biography titled Legyandary which was well attended at the plush Kempinski Hotel- Accra.