That was the view of his Sunderland manager Steve Bruce, who said ahead of their game with Chelsea this weekend that he has struggled to focus.
“Since that game at Wembley, all the parasites, as I call them, hover around. People are in his ear constantly trying to engineer a deal for him. Certainly since the England game, when he played at Wembley so well on the night, something has been troubling him. It’s very difficult, the constant speculation no matter what you try to quash or quell, and the people around him, the people who want to make a fast buck, shall we say, and it affects him in the end.
“He was going from Real Madrid to Bayern Munich to Valencia to Atletico Madrid. We have had a discussion with him and he needs now to focus and get himself back on track again and be the Asamoah Gyan we know he is capable of. These things affect these players, and it has affected Asa. I had a conversation with him two days ago to say, ‘Look, the window as now closed, Asa. Right, we need to see you back playing again and back the way you know you can play’.”
