Coventry, Wycombe, Anglia, Ghana’s Cape Coast; it doesn’t matter what the destination is, Andre Ayew scores wherever he goes.
The ever-reliable playmaker has Swansea City fans dreaming of a Welsh representative in the Premier League once more and, on Thursday, it was he who pushed Ghana one step closer to qualifying for next year’s African Cup Of Nations.
Ayew’s brace in a 2-0 victory over Sudan means he has nine goals for club and country already this season. And, when you consider the campaign is just 15 games old, that’s some tally.
It’s fair to say West Bromwich Albion could only dream of a forward as lethal as that.
The Sun (15 October, page 53) claims the shot-shy Baggies at least tried to reunite Slaven Bilic with a man his West Ham United side paid £20 million for in 2016.
But with Ayew commanding wages of £90,000 a week, any hopes of a link-up between Bilic and his former Hammer went up in smoke on deadline day.
The question now is whether under-pressure Bilic can find enough firepower elsewhere to guide West Brom away from the dreaded relegation zone.
The signs don’t look good.
The bouncing Baggies were much improved defensively in last week’s 1-0 defeat to Tottenham but, not for the first time, squandered a host of opportunities. They remain one of three winless teams in the Premier League having scored fewer goals as a team (six) than Ayew has on his own.
Only Callum Robinson has netted more than once.
That’s not to say Bilic’s squad doesn’t contain goal-scoring potential.
Robinson and £15m summer signing Karlan Grant found goals relatively easy to come by at Championship level. Meanwhile, Matheus Pereira, Conor Gallagher and Grady Diangana have the technical ability to thrive in the division above.
But until West Brom start scoring, not to mention winning, Ayew’s clinical finishing will continue to draw envious glances from the Black Country.
After all, no-one in Bilic’s squad is capable of sniffing out goalscoring chances quite like Ayew.
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