Dede Ayew is getting older – Michail Antonio says Otto Addo dropping Ayew ‘normal’

West Ham forward Michail Antonio has had his say on the controversy surrounding the recent exclusion of Andre Dede Ayew from the Ghana squad.

Antonio explained that it is not an alien practice for older players to be dropped from national team all-ups.

He cited his situation at the London-based club where younger strikers including Sebastian Haller, Gianluca Scamacca and recently Niclas Fullkrug have been signed as his replacement on multiple occasions as a reference.

“He’s getting a bit older now, obviously, and new boys are coming in. It’s normal and it happens to all footballers all the time. You get through the older players and try to bring in someone new.

“It’s the same thing with me at West Ham. Every year they try to replace me with young players, but obviously, I’m still here,” he said.

The 34-year-old Jamaica international believes it is not normal for teams to seek younger players to augment their squad. He noted that age sometimes catches up with players and they must learn to accept that.

“It happens. At the end of the day, players get older, and they look for something new, they look for new quality, because some of the things you could do when you were younger, you probably can’t do them now. You’re no longer as quick as you used to be, so it’s normal,” he added.

Dede Ayew’s time away from Black Stars

Ayew was first left out of the Black Stars' roster for the World Cup qualifying matches against the Central African Republic and Mali in June 2024.

Black Stars head coach disclosed at the time that he had personally visited France to inform Ayew of his exclusion from the squad for those two matches. Ayew, however, disagreed with Addo's explanation for the omission.

Since then, the former West Ham player has not been called to the national team.

He was teammates with Antonio from 2016 to 2018 and netted nine Premier League goals in 40 games as a Hammer.

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