On this day in 2010 we were introduced to Asamoah Gyan for the first time. He came off the bench for Danny Welbeck to score for the Lads away to Wigan, a game which finished 1-1.
The Ghanaian, who is from the county’s capital Accra, signed for the lads on the 13th August 2010, where it was hoped he would form a partnership with then England international Darren Bent.
Gyan was signed on the back of some impressive displays abroad, where he had successful spells at Italian clubs Udinese and Modena (scoring a combined total 26 goals in 92 appearances for both clubs) and then Rennes (53 appearances, 15 goals).
Following on from his debut at Wigan, Gyan made his first start for us in a home league cup tie against West Ham - a game we would ultimately lose, although he scored again. In the Ghanaian legend's first Premier League start, he scored both goals in our 2-0 win.
A standout moment for Gyan at the club was when he netted the second goal in famous three nil hammering of then Premier League champions Chelsea. Gyan expertly guided in a shot after a well-worked lads move to leave the lacklustre home side rattled before Welbeck got the third and final goal of the game.
The Accra born striker finished his first season in the English Premier League with a good ten league goals, with plenty of room for improvement considering he had suffered a hamstring injury in that period. The potential for a Bent/Gyan partnership was really enticing, but ultimately never came to fruition thanks to Bent's controversial exit.
Football never seemed to be Gyan’s main focus though, which is a shame considering the obvious natural ability he had in his outfield play and in scoring goals. Even whilst at Sunderland, he was featuring in rap videos with artists like Castro under the pseudonym “Babyjet” and their single “African Girls” got blasted out on the club PA system before games and at half-time.
On the 10th of September Gyan signed on loan for Dubai based club Al Ain FC, with it being reported that Sunderland would receive a six million pound loan fee and Gyan would be paid four times his wage at Sunderland. This move would be the beginning of the end of Gyan’s time at Sunderland. When Martin O'Neill took charge of the club there was speculation that he might recall Gyan from his loan spell but that never come to fruition.
Gyan signed a five-year contract with Al Ain on the six of July 2012, in a deal worth up to £6m per season. After Al Ain, Gyan would have spells in China with Shanghai-SIPG, in Turkey with Kayserispor, India with North East United FC and then finished his career bac in Accra, Ghana, with Legon Cities. He was a fan favourite while at Sunderland so it was a shame to see him hamper his footballing legacy with these moves which were obviously motivated by money - although who could blame him?
On the international stage his goalscoring record is really impressive, scoring 51 goals in 109 appearances for Ghana which makes him their all-time leading goalscorer. He represented his country in the 2006 (where he scored Ghana's first ever World Cup goal), 2010 (where he became a real icon of African football having scored three goals) and 2014 World Cups (captaining the side and becoming the top African goalscorer in World Cup finals history).
Outside of football Gyan set up his own Boxing promotion company in Ghana, which now seems defunct as the contract between the promotion company and its only boxer Emmanuel Tagoe had been terminated. Gyan set up “BabyJet Airlines” in 2017 and the Airlines launch was announced officially by Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo in October 2017. After numerous announcements of the start date of the company, Baby Jet Airlines had not seen take off and the company officially folded in 2019.
Most recently, Gyan was on TalkSport and he was on the line with Darren Bent and before he went off he had one question for Bent which caught him off guard. He asked Darren why he left Sunderland and you could hear the genuine anger in Asamoah's voice as Bent dodged the question. The clip can be seen here: https://twitter.com/talkSPORT/status/1593333150142251010?s=20&t=oepHfm4apyq_puEjUEpBmg
SAFC loan midfielder Salis Abdul Samed spoke in his first interview with the club about his friendship with Gyan, who he of course knows from the Ghana national team. Samed said: “He is someone that is really kind. I have a friend who plays in Belgium who is really close to him so that is where I first met Asamoah Gyan. When we go away with the national team he sometimes comes to us to help us with experience and advice. We sometimes talk on the phone when we’re both free, we chat and he is very kind. I don’t think he knows I’m here yet but when I tell him I think he will be very happy! Maybe he’ll give me some advice about the club or something.”
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