ABU DHABI // Winning a third Arabian Gulf League title in four years with Al Ain has convinced Asamoah Gyan that his decision to move to the UAE has been the “best move” of his career.
Gyan first came to Al Ain on loan from Premier League side Sunderland in 2011 before making the move permanent 12 months later.
He believes the time here has improved him as a player, not just domestically where he has scored 95 goals in 81 league appearances, but also with Ghana on the international stage where he scored two goals at the World Cup finals last year in Brazil.
"Career-wise, it has been great, since moving here there was a lot of criticism: 'Why leaving England and coming here?'," Gyan said following Monday's goalless draw at Al Wahda.
“I think international level and club level has been tremendous for me personally, everything has been so well from the term of goal scoring and everything, that is my job. So I would say, for what I have seen right now, it is the best move I have moved in my career.”
Gyan, Al Ain’s top scorer this season with 13 goals, said he was proud of how the club had bounced back to title-winning form this season after a disappointing 2013/14 campaign where they finished sixth.
“It is part of football; we won two years in a row and then in the third season it was really bad,” he said. “Sometimes it happens in football.
“No one is to be blamed, we came back strongly and that is what everybody saw and we won the league. So kudos to the players and kudos to the staff and everybody in Al Ain.”
The striker,29, also paid tribute to the work of coach Zlatko Dalic, who he felt had dealt well with a high number of injuries during the season, including one for Gyan that left him sidelined. “He has done an incredible job this season,” Gyan said of Dalic.
While the title was wrapped up earlier this month with four games to spare the team will lift the league trophy tomorrow at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium when they host Baniyas.
Gyan said there would no be resting up from he and his teammates, but said the immediate focus for the team now was winning the President’s Cup, which takes place next month, and pushing on in the Asian Champions League (ACL), with Al Ain having already qualified for the last 16 of the competition, which begins on May 19.
“We are more focused for the Asian Cup and the President’s Cup now,” the Ghanian said, referring to the ACL.
“We have got more competitions ahead of us.”
Gyan added the President’s Cup was particularly important to the club’s Emirati players.
“The President’s Cup is very important, it is the only competition left in the local league, it is very important for all the players in the UAE,” he said. “So we are also focused on that too. The kind of quality we have I think we need to win, that is the main ambition.”
malshamsi@thenational.ae
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