For most footballers, the most difficult part of the career is picking the ideal time to give the game the last dance and bow out.
Thoughts of swapping the limelight and glamour for the relatively quiet life of retirement is one that scares them but there comes a time when such uncomfortable decisions need to be made.
Though the soul may be willing, the body may not support the ambition and it is only right that players at this point realize the situation and hang up their boots and protect their legacies.
Asamoah Gyan
Greatest scorer in the history of the Black Stars, Africa’s leading scorer at the World Cup, one of only two players on earth to have competed in nine consecutive tournaments, what else is left for the LeGYANdary player to achieve?
Gyan has seen it all in the game, especially at the national team level where he made history with Ghana at the 2010 World Cup in Qatar.
After more than two decades of active footballing career in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, Gyan returned home to relaunch his career with a stint at Legon Cities but that did not go down well.
Gyan has ruled out retirement and would want to show off his last dance at the World Cup but that looks far from possible.
As admitted by Gyan himself, he will have to lose weight, overcome his niggling injury issues and compete at the club level before thinking of getting a place in Ghana’s squad.
With the tournament barely six months away, it is looking increasingly likely that Gyan will not able to achieve these things before the World Cup.
In the last AFCON, Gyan exhibited fine punditry skills on SuperSport and retirement from the game will allow him to focus on these things.
Prince Tagoe
The ‘Prince of Goals’ of yesteryears is now a regular pundit on Angel TV where he has been doing a fine job with his views on goal-scoring and football as a whole.
He recently expressed a desire to play with Sulley Muntari at Hearts of Oak as he believes he still has a lot to offer.
Prince Tagoe joined Bangladeshi side Chittagong Abahani in 2019 but his contract was terminated and he has been inactive since.
A good goal-scorer in his prime, maybe the time has come for Tagoe to officially draw the curtains on his career and focus on the punditry job.
Emmanuel Clottey
The success of the Berekum Chelsea team of 2012 cannot be said without a mention of the prolific Emmanuel Tagoe.
His performance got him chances with the Black Stars and he did okay.
After some brief spell on the continent and beyond, Emmanuel Clottey returned to Chelsea in 2020 and got the headlines for scoring against Kotoko.
That appears to be the biggest thing he achieved in his comeback. Reports indicate now that he is working on his coaching badges and at 34, Clottey would be good for his sides.
TWI NEWS
Fatau Dauda
The former Black Stars goalkeeper did an okay job at Legon Cities but was not enough to keep him there.
In recent weeks, he had been linked with Kumasi Asante Kotoko but the deal did not see the light of day.
At 37 and now a pundit who as per reports has been working his badges, Fatau Dauda needs to move on and transition into the coaching space.
Watch the latest editions of Sports Debate and Sports Check below
