In November 2020, Ghanaian midfielder, Bernard Mensah announced his retirement from the Black Stars despite being at the prime age of his career – 26.

Mensah in a statement disclosed that he had decided to call time on his international career to focus on his club football.

A statement announcing his retirement reads "I have decided to take a break from the national team until further notice. I want to concentrate on my career for now. Thanks to all Ghanaians for their support"

Since he retired, there have been widespread rumours about the event that compelled him to call time on his international career.

Christopher Nimley, a Ghanaian coach has opened up on the reasons that ‘forced’ Bernard Mensah to leave the Black Stars prematurely.

According to him, Bernard Mensah retired from the Black Stars after the management, in his view exhibited bias and unfairness in the handling of an on-field incident between him and Jordan Ayew.

The said incident, coach Nimley alleges, occurred in Ghana’s friendly match against Mali which saw the country being thumped 3-0.

He narrated on Pure FM that in the game, Jordan Ayew failed to press the Malians after giving away a ball and caused Mensah to charge him to defend and help recover the ball.

Jordan Ayew, according to Christopher Nimley took offence and reported the issue to the management of the Black Stars.

Coach Nimley narrates that the management then decided to punish Bernard Mensah by leaving him out of the subsequent match against Qatar and that caused the pained Mensah to retire from the team.

“Some players are very peeved about not being selected for the AFCON. There is no way Jeffery Schlupp should not have been part of the AFCON. Bernard Mensah in my view is the best number 8 now. That boy has refused to play for the Black Stars because of bad management.

In our game against Mali, he had an issue with Jordan Ayew. He gave a pass to Jordan and Jordan gave the ball away. He yelled at Jordan to press and recover the ball and Jordan became furious and complained to the management. The way and manner that situation was handled. You will recall that after the Mali game, we played against Qatar and lost. The boy did not feature in that game and that was when he decided to retire from the team. He was unhappy because he felt Jordan was favored,” he said.

Bernard Mensah currently plays in the Saudi league for Al Tai

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