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The 34-year-old returns to the Ghana Premier League for the first time since 2003
Ghana’s Premier League Legon Cities have completed the hiring of former Sunderland forward Asamoah Gyan on the day of the local transfer deadline.
The 34-year-old has put pen to paper on a one-year contract, marking his return to national football for the first time since 2003, when he left the Liberty Professionals for Udinese.
He last appeared for NorthEast United in the Indian Super League, from which he parted ways in January after a brief stint.
Recently, the center-forward was closely linked to Ghanaian giants Asante Kotoko, whom he had publicly maintained a personal desire to represent, before ending his professional career.
BIG BIG!
Ghana’s all-time top scorer @ ASAMOAH_GYAN3 agrees to a one-year contract with #GPL side @LegonCiudadesFC#GPLTransferDeadlineDay
– Ghana Premier League (@GhanaLeague) October 31, 2020
The Gyan acquisition is the latest statement of intent from Cities, which are on a rebranding course following their rebrand from Wa All Stars last year. He could debut with The Royals against Berekum Chelsea on the opening day of the 2020-21 GPL season in fifteen days.
In December, Legon signed Ghana international and former Orlando Pirates goalkeeper Fatau Dauda ahead of the 2019-20 season, which ended prematurely midway due to interruptions from the coronavirus disease.
The club was taken over by new owners from former Ghana Football Association (GFA) president Kwesi Nyantakyi, who had to resign from the team following his lifelong suspension from FIFA from soccer over a bribery and corruption scandal.
Gyan returns to the GPL after a 17-year career abroad, where he played in Italy, France, England, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Turkey, China and, most recently, in India.
In 2003, he left Ghana for his first season abroad, joining Udinese in the Italian top flight. Between 2004 and 2006, the Accra-born was loaned to Modena.
In 2008, he moved to the French team Stade Rennais, from where he joined Sunderland in the Premier League after impressing Ghana at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Gyan left The Black Cats for Al Ain in the UAE after just one season, initially on loan, before the change became permanent.
Since then, he has played for Shanghai SIPG in China, Al Ahli Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Turkish Kayserispor and NorthEast United.
Internationally, Gyan, who scored his country’s first World Cup goal in 2006, is Ghana’s most capped player and all-time top scorer, with 106 appearances and 51 goals.
With six goals, he also stands as Africa’s all-time top scorer at the World Cup after breaking the record of Roger Milla of Cameroon in the 2014 top world competition in Brazil.
At the African Cup of Nations, the forward ranks second on Ghana’s all-time top scorers list at the tournament, just one strike behind Swansea City striker Andre Ayew, who has nine goals to his credit.
Gyan last played for Ghana at the Afcon 2019 tournament.
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