Jordan Ayew, who began his professional career in Olympique Marseille, has revealed the difficulty he faced in breaking out of Andre Ayew’s shadow at the French club.
The striker joined Marseille as an academy player at age 13, before going on to make 111 appearances for the Ligue 1 giants – scoring a total of 14 goals.
The 27-year-old has represented five other football teams since his time with Les Olympiens, including Crystal Palace – with whom he penned a three-year permanent deal on Thursday, following a one-year loan spell last season.
Speaking on how his nomadic club career started, Jordan Ayew revealed his brother Andre Ayew and some top players at Marseille blocked his pathway to regular action, leaving him with no option but to leave.
“It was a very difficult moment because Marcelo Bielsa was at Marseille and he wanted to keep me but I went to Sochaux for six months on loan to get some minutes ahead of the World Cup and I really enjoyed it,” he told the Crystal Palace official website in an interview.
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“When I came back to Marseille I wanted to be a really important player somewhere. In Marseille they had my brother and [Andre-Pierre] Gignac and other really top players, so the only thing I could do was move to a team that would give me an opportunity and responsibility.
“I could have stayed at Marseille my whole life; I had friends there and it was like my home and I had come through the youth team, so everything was perfect but I didn’t want to just be there and relax, I wanted challenges and to test myself.”
