Ghana forward, Richmond Boakye Yiadom says strikers can only reach former captain, Asamoah Gyan’s dizzy heights if given the support from all quarters.
The 28-year-old is part of Ghana’s 28-man squad at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
Boakye-Yiadom, who has been a journey man with sojourns in Europe and Asia, is yet to kick a ball in the Black Stars 2021 AFCON campaign.
Ghana’s attacking force, led by Crystal Palace man, Jordan Ayew fired blanks in their 1-0 loss to Morocco in the AFCON opener on Monday.
The now Beitar Jerusalem striker has often been tagged as a perfect replacement for yet to retire and Ghana’s all time top scorer, Asamoah Gyan.
The former Juventus striker however demands time, belief and support from national team selectors and Ghanaians as a whole to be able to achieve such feats chalked by Gyan.
“I had a couple of injuries when I returned from China and it slowed me down a little bit. “But I believe, to get to the level of half of what Asamoah Gyan did, you need consistency in the national team and there has to be belief.
“You have to believe in the national team. Everybody who supports any national team has to believe the team he supports because we don’t use one day to improve on something.
“It needs time and when you give us the time and you focus on three, four strikers, you keep them and you begin to work on them at least what he [Asamoah Gyan] did, we may not be able to get to what he did but we may be able to do half of it.
“All that I ask from everyone who supports the national team is, they should always believe in their team and their country and be able to do positive things to the players so that they can work hard to achieve what others did.
“It’s not everybody who reads the comments in the media that can take it, for me if I read something I can take it but there are some players their spirit is different.
When they find something they go down and it kills them. “So for me to be compared to such a player like Asamoah Gyan is an honour but I’m still young, I still have more time to work on myself.
All that I ask is everybody to give the belief and the support and we will work to achieve something for the nation.” Richmond Boakye Yiadom told the press.
Boakye Yiadom has previously played for Juventus, Sassuolo, Atalanta, Latina all in the Italian League.
His other stints have been with Bulgarian club, Red Star Belgrade, Chinese side, Jiangsu Suning and Polish side, Gornik Zabrze before a move to Betar Jerusalem in Israeli top flight League.
It remains to be seen if Boakye-Yiadom who has 16 international caps and six goals for Ghana will play a part in the AFCON as coach Milovan Rajevac’s number one is Jordan Ayew.
Ghana will next play Gabon on Friday in the second Group C game at the Ahmadou Ahidjo.
Source: www.thenewindependentonline.com
