COMMENT By Solace Chukwu
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In light of West Ham United's suspension of player recruitment chief Tony Henry for recent racist comments, it seems fitting that Andre Ayew has brought to an end a troubled eighteen-month stay with the Hammers to return to Swansea City. Back in Wales, he will be welcomed by brother Jordan; the latter has only recently taken up the mantle the latter left behind in the summer of 2016.
Andre only spent a season in his first Swansea stint, but no one could have foreseen just to what degree his impact would resonate.
He immediately served notice of his gifts, scoring on his Premier League debut, a 2-2 draw against then reigning champions Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. That game, and result, has of course assumed almost mythical undertones: starring the late Chelsea-era Mourinho, permanently surly; an affronted Eva Carneiro, a sending-off, a penalty, and four goals.
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The 28-year-old would amass 12 goals that season, and lay on a further five in 34 starts, as Swansea finished comfortably in 12th. Understandably, interest in him was high, and West Ham (who had finished a promising season in seventh) represented a definite upgrade for the Ghana international.
Yet, he never quite took off in West London.
Part of that was immediately having to battle a hamstring injury, which saw him sideline for the first eight weeks of the season. His return was to action was then punctuated by international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations, but even before then he struggled to break into the side. Ironically, he ensured his former employers retained a high opinion of him—his only league goal before January coming back at the Liberty Stadium in a 4-1 hammering of the hosts.
The split was not kinder to the Swans, whose calamitous first half-season precipitated a dive toward the foot of the table. Their January swoop for the younger Ayew seemed more impulsive and desperate than calculated, with Jordan hardly pulling up any trees in the Championship with Aston Villa.
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If the thinking was that, with an(y) Ayew on board there would be a calming of their fraught situation – a sort of reverse-Jonah dynamic – they would be proved right. Rather more tangibly, he scored once and assisted twice in the home strait as Swansea picked up 13 points from their final five games to improbably secure survival.
Unsurprisingly, the high from that late surge last term did not carry over into this. However, the mid-season arrival of Carlos Carvalhal has had already begun to reap dividend and pull them out of the relegation zone, and so it is now unlikely they will require a late rally to stave off the drop once more.
What the re-signing of Andre Ayew does give them, though, is a versatile creator, capable even of playing as a false-nine, who can be the foil for Jordan.
Ayew the younger has already comfortably excelled his goal return for the second half of last season—a more complete adaptation might have something to do with it, but the simpler answer is probably that Carvalhal has given him a freer hand within a disciplined side that seeks to maximize transitions.
Jordan was superb in the shock 3-1 over Arsenal, leading the line with energy and a flair which has proven to be as much a problem for himself as for opposing defences. A deep inconsistency dogs his game, but it seems now that he will be indulged more and charged with using that asset higher up the pitch to destabilize opposing defences, rather than in deeper positions.
The prospect of a link-up with Andre is an exciting one: both played alongside one another at French giants Marseille to pretty good effect. Between them, they recorded 22 goals and 13 assists in 2014/2015 for Les Phoceens, who narrowly missed out on Champions League qualification by two points. That marked their final season together in France; incidentally, Marseille have not finished that high up, or with as may points, since.
In their favour is their proficiency all across the front, and while that precisely has so often (especially for the Ghana national team) led to confusion as to how they might be deployed, it seems perfectly suited to Swansea's horses-for-courses approach. At Marseille, Andre played a narrow left-sided role while Jordan led the line; for Ghana, Jordan has usually started slightly deeper, playing off the centre-forward.
As Carvalhal seeks to adapt his game plan from one match to the next to combat each peculiar challenge, it is the Ayew Brothers who will bear the Swans' attacking standard.
Their understanding and adaptability means Swansea now have, arguably the most potent attacking partnership in the entire bottom half.
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