Jordan Ayu is the youngest of the three Ghanaian football brothers, each of whom has reached various heights in sports. For example, the elder brother Ibrahim performs in the tiny minor championship of Gibraltar, while the middle brother Andre is a well-known footballer and plays for the fairly strong English club West Ham. But what about the little brother? What has Jordan Ayu achieved during his time in big football?
The beginning of a career and the game for Marseille
From early childhood it was clear that Jordan Ayu would play football, like all his brothers. After all, their father was a football player and is now the president of a small football club, their uncle was also a professional player. Therefore, at the age of nine, the boy has already joined the Lyon Duchers Club Academy. He spent six years there, after which he was noticed by scouts of one of the largest clubs in France - Marseille, where he moved in 2006. Three years of hard training side by side with Andre - and in 2009, Jordan also signed a professional contract with Marcel. Two brothers played together for the club almost all the time while they were there. Of course, in his first season, Jordan did not immediately get a place at the base and spent only four matches, but over time he entrenched in the starting lineup and over the next three and a half years played in 143 matches, scoring 19 more goals. In the winter of 2014, it became clear that Jordan’s talent would not be revealed, so the club management decided to rent it to Sochaux - to give him a second chance.
Rent in Sochaux
At Sochaux, Jordan Ayew spent only six months, but showed his best side. He played 18 matches and scored five goals, but this was not enough to convince the club management to extend the contract with him. As a result, in the summer of 2014, a football player for four million euros moved to another French club Lorient.
Transition to Lorient
It was in Lorian that Jordan Ayu began to unfold as much as possible - the player’s biography notes that his career went uphill, as he received a lot of playing time and showed remarkable results. In one year, he played 33 matches and scored thirteen goals, which attracted the attention of English clubs. Ayu Jordan did not stay in Lorient and in the summer of 2015 he moved to England, where he signed a contract with Aston Villa, which paid 12 million euros for it.
Go down
Money played an important role in this transfer - the fact is that Aston Villa was in the Championship, the second strongest division in England, so there was no question of prestige. But English clubs, which received impressive money from the sale of broadcasting rights, were able to spend as much as they wanted. So Ayu ended up in Aston Villa, for which he spent 36 matches, scoring seven goals. This season he has appeared on the field already 12 times, having marked himself with two goals.
Team appearances
Although Jordan was born in France, he has Ghanaian roots, so he chose the team of Ghana, not France, where he made his debut in September 2010 in the qualifying match for the African Cup of Nations against Swaziland. Directly at the Cup itself, Ayu appeared in four of six matches, including in the match for third place, lost to the Mali team. Jordan also went to the 2014 World Cup, where he played in all three matches. At the Africa Cup in 2015, he spent all the matches on the field, except for the quarter-finals. In the lost finals, he played 21 minutes. In total, Jordan played 38 matches for the national team, scoring 10 goals in them.