Former Black Stars attacker, Augustine Arhinful has described Asamoah Gyan’s decision to retire from the national team as unfortunate whiles insisting that Ghanaians must respect the player’s privacy.

Gyan who is Ghana’s all-time leading goal scorer shocked the entire nation with the announcement of his retirement from the national team with just about a month to the start of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament which will be hosted in Egypt.

According to a statement from the player, he will not be playing for the national team again due to head coach James Kwesi Appiah’s decision to name a substantive captain for the Black Stars when he is fit and around to lead the team.

Speaking in an interview with Radio Premier on the back of Gyan’s retirement from international duty, Augustine Arhinful stressed that even though Gyan’s experience would be needed for this year's AFCON, Ghanaians must also respect the decision he has taken and let him be.

“His experience alone we cannot do without his experience. If I was him I would have wished that he should go to the AFCON and come back before officially you can hang your boot. As I said it is very unfortunate for him to have taken the decision even before the squad was announced. Nonetheless we have to respect his views”, Arhinful shared.

He continued, “I don’t know the kind of conversation he has had with the coach or any of the management members because he is not here in the country. Even if they might have talked it would have been over the phone so I don’t want to speculate. If indeed this is a decision that he has taken together with his family and his team then I think we have to respect his privacy”.