Jordan Ayew


Jordan Ayew


Jordan Pierre Ayew (born 11 September 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger or forward for Premier League club Crystal Palace and the Ghana national team.

Ayew began his professional career with Marseille, scoring on his senior debut in 2009. After short spells with fellow Ligue 1 clubs Sochaux and Lorient, Ayew was signed by English side Aston Villa in 2015, finishing his only full season as the team's top scorer as they was relegated from the Premier League; this feat was subsequently repeated with Swansea City in 2018. Following Swansea's relegation, Ayew was signed by Crystal Palace, for whom he has gone on to make over 200 appearances.

Born in France, Ayew made his senior debut for Ghana in 2010 and has since earned over 100 caps for his country. He has played in two FIFA World Cups (2014 and 2022), as well as six Africa Cup of Nations (2012, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023), helping them finish runners-up in 2015.

Ayew is the son of former Ghana captain Abedi Pele, and the brother of fellow players André and Ibrahim Ayew.

Club career

Marseille

Ayew joined Marseille as a trainee in 2006. He signed a three-year professional contract with Marseille in 2009. Jordan Ayew made his debut for the senior team on 16 December 2009 in a league match, scoring the equaliser against Lorient. Marseille went on to win the match 2–1. Ayew scored his second goal against Nice at the Stade Vélodrome on 27 April 2011 in a match which saw his elder brother André Ayew score a hat-trick. On 1 November 2011, Jordan and André both started a UEFA Champions League match for the first time against Premier League giants Arsenal.

On 6 January 2014, he joined Ligue 1 rivals Sochaux on a loan deal until the end of the 2013–14 season.

Lorient

On 28 July 2014, Ayew signed a four-year contract with Lorient. Ayew explained the style and quality of play that Lorient proposed was the reason behind the decision.

Aston Villa

On 27 July 2015, Ayew joined Aston Villa on a five-year deal for an undisclosed fee, reported to be in the region of £8 million. He scored his first goal for the club on 24 October 2015 against his elder brother's club, Swansea City, in the 62nd minute. Aston Villa were relegated at the end of the 2015–16 season, winning only 17 points, but Ayew did end the season as their top scorer, albeit with just seven goals.

Swansea City

2016–17 season

On 31 January 2017, Jordan Ayew joined Swansea City until the end of the 2019–20 season in exchange for Welsh International defender Neil Taylor, plus a fee from Swansea that can rise to £5 million if undisclosed future conditions are met. Jordan's elder brother was a Swansea City player during the 2015–16 season and later joined him in the winter transfer window of 2018. On 12 February 2017, he made his debut in a 2–0 victory over Leicester City after coming on in the 72nd minute for Fernando Llorente. In the final match of the season, Ayew scored his debut goal for Swansea by scoring the first goal, an equalizer which led to a their 2–1 comeback victory over West Bromwich Albion. He played a key role in helping them survive the league and avoid relegation by playing 14 matches, starting nine of those, scoring a goal and assisting three goals.

2017–18 season

On 22 August 2017, Ayew put up a man of the match performance by scoring a 20-yard strike goal and assisting another for Tammy Abraham's debut goal in Swansea's EFL Cup match against MK Dons. His goal 20-yard effort was described by news outlet BBC as a tremendous strike. Ayew scored his first goal in the 2017–18 season, on 26 August 2017, to help The Swans to a 2–0 victory over his future club Crystal Palace. On 17 January 2018, he scored the opening goal in the Swans' 2–1 FA Cup replay match against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

At the end of his second season, his only full season with the club, he played 44 matches in all competition and scored 11 goals with 7 coming in the league. He finished the season as the club's top goal scorer and was voted the Players' Player of the season. His solo goal against Wolverhampton Wanderers scored on 17 January 2018 in the FA Cup won the club's goal of the season award. Despite his performance over the season, Swansea was relegated to the championship. This made it the fourth time he had ended as a club's top goal scorer but the club still getting relegated at the end of the season.

Crystal Palace

2018–19 season

On transfer deadline day in August 2018, Ayew joined Crystal Palace on loan for the 2018–19 season. He made his debut on 1 September 2018, starting in Palace's 2–0 loss to Southampton. On 15 September, he put on an impressive performance against Huddersfield, providing the assist to Wilfried Zaha's goal to earn Palace a 1–0 victory. He was praised for his pressing, hold up play which helped in bringing others into play and allowing the other attackers the opportunity to create chances.

On 2 January 2019, he scored his first league goal for Palace by scoring the opening goal in their 2–0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers. Three days after, Ayew came on in the 68th minute for Jairo Riedewald to score a late winner (in the 86th minute) against Grimsby Town in the FA Cup.

2019–20 season

On 25 July 2019, Ayew made the move permanent with a £2.5m transfer from Swansea City on a three-year deal. Ayew scored his first goal of the season on 24 August 2019 against Manchester United at Old Trafford, netting the opener in the first half against the run of play, latching on to Jeffrey Schlupp's flick-on as Crystal Palace secured an historic 2–1 victory.

On Boxing Day 2019, Ayew scored the match winner in stoppage time as Crystal Palace came from behind to defeat West Ham 2–1. It was Ayew's 21st goal in the Premier League with 20 having been scored in the second half (95%) - the highest such ratio of any player with 20+ goals in the competition's history. On 20 June 2020, he scored to assist the Eagles defeat Bournemouth 2–0, making him the highest-scoring Ghanaian in Premier League history with 25 goals. He surpassed Tony Yeboah who scored 24 goals while playing for Leeds United.

At the end of the season, Ayew was the highest goalscorer for Crystal Palace with 9 goals, and won the Crystal Palace Player of the season, Players' Player of the season and Goal of the season awards.

2020–2023

In the 2020–21 season, Ayew scored his only goal in the season in a 4–1 victory over Leeds United. He subsequently went 43 games without a goal before scoring a 65th-minute equalizer to secure a 2–2 Premier League draw for Crystal Palace against Southampton on 16 December 2021. On 4 April 2022, he scored the second goal in a 3–0 home victory over Arsenal at Selhurst Park. At the end of the 2021–22 season, he was played 31 league matches, scored 3 goals and made 3 assists.

In June 2022, he signed a contract extension keeping him at the club until 2023. Ayew scored his first goal of the 2022–23 season and his first goal after his contract extension on New Year's Eve, ending his goal drought failing to score from 13 starts in 15 matches. He scored the opening goal to help Crystal Palace to 2–0 victory over Bournemouth. On 9 April 2023, he scored a brace inspiring Crystal Palace to an emphatic 5–1 away victory against Leeds United. At the end of the 2022–23 season, Ayew played in all 38 league matches scoring 4 goals and providing 3 assists.

2023–24 season

On 1 November 2023, Ayew signed a contract extension until 2025. On 27 February 2024, he made his 200th Crystal Palace appearance in all competitions, marking the milestone with a player of the match-winning performance including scoring one goal and assisting another in a 3–0 victory over Burnley. Days after that, he was adjudged the Crystal Palace men's Player of the Month for February.

International career

Ayew made his first senior appearance for Ghana on 5 September 2010, in a 3–0 2012 AFCON Qualification match win against Swaziland, at the Somhlolo National Stadium in Lobamba, Swaziland. On 1 June 2012, Ayew scored his first and second international goals in a 2014 World Cup qualification match win against Lesotho, at the Kumasi Sports Stadium in Kumasi, Ghana. In December 2011, Ayew was named to the Ghana national team provisional 25-man squad for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, and in January 2012 he was selected for the tournament's 23-man squad.

In June 2014, he was included in the Ghanaian squad for the 2014 World Cup. In Ghana's last warm-up match before the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil on 9 June 2014, Ayew came on as a first-half substitute for the injured Majeed Waris and ended up scoring a hat-trick in a 4–0 victory over South Korea.

Jordan Ayew was part of the Ghanaian team in 2015 Africa Cup of Nations which took place in Equatorial Guinea that took a silver medal as result of losing out to Ivory Coast on a penalty shoot-out whom they clinch the African Cup, which occurred on 8 February 2015.

He was part of the Ghanaian team in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations that was eliminated at the group stage of the competition. In January 2024, he was named in the 27-man squad for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast. He scored two penalties in his 100th international cap, which ended in a 2–2 draw against Mozambique in the last group stage match of the African competition.

Personal life

Ayew is the son of Maha Ayew and Abedi Pele. His maternal grandfather, Alhaji A.A. Khadir, is Lebanese. His father, uncles Kwame and Sola, and brothers André and Ibrahim are all current or former professional footballers as well as a sister, Imani. Ayew is a practising Muslim. He is married to Denise Acquah and they have two children.

In addition to his Ghanaian nationality, he holds French nationality.

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 19 May 2024

International

As of match played 26 March 2024
Scores and results list Ghana's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ayew goal.

Honours

Marseille

  • Ligue 1: 2009–10
  • Coupe de la Ligue: 2010–11, 2011–12
  • Trophée des Champions: 2011

Ghana

  • African Cup of Nations runner-up: 2015

Individual

  • Ghana Player of the Year: 2020
  • Crystal Palace Player of the Year: 2019–20
  • Crystal Palace Players' Player of the Year: 2019–20
  • Crystal Palace Goal of the Season: 2019–20
  • Swansea City Players' Player of the Season: 2017–18
  • Swansea City Goal of the Season: 2017–18

See also

  • List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps

References

External links

  • Profile at the Crystal Palace F.C. website
  • Jordan Ayew – FIFA competition record (archived)
  • Jordan Ayew – UEFA competition record (archive) 

Text submitted to CC-BY-SA license. Source: Jordan Ayew by Wikipedia (Historical)



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