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As Gyan completed his permanent move to Al-Ain a collective sigh of relief was audible across Wearside and we all hoped to draw a line under the irksome saga having reportedly recouped the majority, if not all, of our initial outlay for the Ghanaian striker. However it would seem we have not heard the last of Asamoah as stories have began to surface that he has not quite kept up his end of the bargain with regards to his move to the Middle East.
As I'm sure you can all remember, in the wake of Gyan's sudden departure a year ago, it was announced that as part of the deal the forward had agreed to make a substantial donation to the club's Foundation charity, a donation thought to be in the region of £100,000. Well it would appear that Asamoah has neglected to keep his promise as the club is yet to receive a cheque through the post as a club representative revealed:
The donation has not been received to date, however we are hopeful that this is merely an oversight on the part of Asamoah and his representatives.
The Foundation does a tremendous amount of work with young people in the North East region and a donation of this kind will help to fund some fantastic programmes and support youngsters from some of the most vulnerable areas of society.
As a man who earned in the region of £10m last year, tax free I may add, this is pretty disappointing on Asamoah's part. Gyan traded plying his trade in front of tens of thousands of spectators each and every week in one of the most popular leagues on the planet to instead strut his stuff in front of a couple of hundred all in the name of money and lots of it.
£100,000 is simply back-pocket change for the player who now earns twice that in a week. However the sum would make a significant difference to Sunderland's Foundation and the fantastic work it carries out across the region.
Gyan has moved swiftly in the past to save face in the media, meeting with a disgruntled young fan who had his name printed upon his SAFC shirt just days before the striker's sudden departure for instance, so let's hope for the Foundation's sake that Asamoah acts to keep his end of the bargain so we can all get back to forgetting all about him.