Questions & Answers With Andre Ayew

Ghana winger Andre Ayew has returned to his French club Marseille ahead of the start of the new season in Ligue 1. The son of legend Abedi Pele talks exclusively to MTNFootball.com about his successes and failures from last season. He also talks about the praise Alex Ferguson heaped on his last season, the future with Marseille and the Black Stars as well as his junior brother Jordan. Below is the full text of the interview: MTNFootball: Congratulations once again Andre. You had a lot of playing time at club level and in the UEFA Champions League. But for you what was the high point of the season 2010/11? AA: Thank you. I think this season was a good season in general. I won trophies with Marseille and I had the opportunity to play a lot of games, the Champions League, the French Cup and the Ligue 1. I think I am very grateful to the Marseille squad and the coach and to all my colleagues. It was a great moment. MTNFootball: You played at the Old Trafford against Manchester United and you have been linked with Manchester United. Did you really speak with Alex Ferguson? AA: What has this got to do with my season? (laughs) But you just heard what he said about my game after the match and that was all. I think it was a moment that touched me a lot. It helped me and pushed me to work harder. I am happy and proud. MTNFootball: If you take stock of what happened in Europe and playing more matches than you have done before, what did it do to you? AA: I think it was just something that was showing me that hard work pays and if you work hard you get the reward and I think that is what I did. I tried to work hard, I tried to give my best, I tried to fight and progress as a player. So I can have the opportunity to progress and prove my point in front of the whole world in a big club like Marseille is a good one for me. MTNFootball: You still have a contract with Marseille but the truth is that you have lots of clubs interested in signing you? AA: It�s true that there are interest coming in but like you said I still have a contract with Marseille and I am a Marseille player till now. Like I always say I am lucky to be in a club like Marseille so why should I think of leaving? But you know in life there is always a bigger challenge ahead. So if maybe a bigger challenge comes up why not? But at the moment that is not my priority. MTNFootball: Is it also true that the nasty robbery incidents in Marseille could play a role in where you are going to play your football next season? AA: Yeah! That is for sure. I am going to have a meeting with the Marseille big men and staff so we can discuss some few things. Because I think it is difficult for a player not to feel safe. But that is how it is as I don�t have the feeling of being safe. You cannot leave your home and come back � you are always robbed and the last time, there were people in the house! I think it is difficult to accept but that�s it. It�s part of life. It is something we need to grow up with and forget about. MTNFootball: Is there anywhere you would want to play apart from Marseille? AA: You know there are a lot of clubs today which are big clubs. There are about eight to ten clubs which are huge so you don�t have one in mind. But you know the club which would want to give you the opportunity to prove yourself and a club that is bigger than Marseille. But seriously, apart from the robbery and stuff I am quite happy at Marseille. I like the fans and everybody at the club. I began at the junior team and they have offered me a lot of opportunities. MTNFootball: Your camp mate happens to be your younger brother Jordan who had a good season at Marseille. Tell us for the first time you played together and saw each other frequently. How was it like? AA: I think it was good. We helped each other and advice each other to fight and try and go forward. We had the opportunity to prove a point together and it also happened that we played together in the Black Stars. So I am happy that we managed to do good things in Marseille. MTNFootball: He played more games this season than last year for Marseille. Would you advise him to remain at the Stade Velodrome and fight for a starting place or spend some time away on loan like you did two seasons ago? AA: Where he is now, he is unlike me. My situation was different and his situation is also a different one. I believe he has the quality to be a first team starter so why leave? If you want to be a great player, you have to fight among the best. When you have the opportunity you utilize it. If he would not be given the chance that is a different situation then I can tell him to go and get his chance. But I think he will get his chance but maybe he will not be a starter. That is normal. You don�t expect a 19-year-old to be your number one striker. I think he can become the number one as the season grows. MTNFootball: How painful was it to miss out of the Ligue 1 Young Player award? AA: That issue I don�t like to think about it a lot because maybe sometimes I am not certain about whether it was fair or not. The person who won it is a better player. I know him personally, he is young and good. But I also felt that I could have won it. It is part of football. These are part of the things that would make you a better player and urge you on to try and work harder. MTNFootball: What would make your 2011/12 season complete? AA: I think winning the French League and winning the African Cup of Nations will be very important for me. MTNFootball: Back to national team football, the team you led to win the Fifa U20 World Cup are struggling. They lost to Nigeria and you have been excused from international duty ahead of the second leg. Do you believe that they can turn things around? AA: Yeah we can turn things around very easily. I think they have the ability and the players to make it against Nigeria. From what I know from the first leg we handled the game very well and we were just unlucky so if we get a little bit of luck and with our home support we can make it. In Nigeria the stadium was full so I think the supporters should come and support the team and push them to qualify. Nigeria and Ghana is a football rivalry and we need to always finish on top. MTNFootball: You will be playing in your third Nations Cup hopefully by next year. If you look at the Black Stars team now and the season ahead of us what makes Ghana the favourites to win the title for the first time in more than two decades? AA: We are favourites but there are a lot of favourites. We have Ghana, Cameroon, Senegal and Ivory Coast. It is going to be very difficult to win the African Cup but I think we have the confidence, we have the mental strength and the hunger to succeed so if you are going to make something, it is going to be our mentality and the way we are going to respect the tournament. We need to play the games like it is going to be our last games. Every game must be like our last game. We are the team to beat in Africa. Everybody that is going to play against Ghana is going to play like the way we played when we played against Germany or in the World Cup. We need to beware of that and keep the status and the name of Ghana high and that is by bringing the cup home. MTNFootball: Ghana has a new coach and he Goran Stevanovic is expected to guide the side to the Nations Cup in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. You have had talks with him and played under him. How do you see Goran Stevanovic leading a young band of Black Stars players? AA: I think he is a coach who can bring a lot of things to Ghana. You can see from his first three games. His contribution will be very good for Ghanaian football. From what I know, he is a coach who will bring a lot to Ghana. MTNFootball: What do you want to achieve next season as you prepare to join Marseille for talks and pre-season? AA: I pray that God guides me from any injury which could slow down my season down and work hard and give best. MTNFootball: Are you looking forward to personal award for yourself? AA: In football you always get nominated when your team is playing well. To get a personal award, it should be a collective work from the team. I dream one day to be a great player. I dream to be Africa�s best one but it is my mouth which will make me achieve this. It is hard work. MTNFootball: You scored more goals than ever in last season. At a point in time you were competing with Lucho Gonzalez for Marseille�s topscorer. Is it something that you would like to continue next season? AA: It depends on the role I will have to play in the season. If I will have to play more in the middle, I will score few goals for sure. But if I play on the left wing, I will have more opportunities to score and give assists and be decisive. MTNFootball: Talking about positions, you are playing as a makeshift winger instead of a middle role. Have you settled in now? AA: I know my position, at the moment I am not getting the opportunity to play in that position. I only had the opportunity to play in that position when I was in Arles. So I am waiting in hunger for the opportunity to play some games in that -position.