Former Black Stars captain, Stephen Appiah, has revealed that opting to play for Ghana at the 2004 Olympics forced him to leave Juventus.
According to him, the club treated him differently after he returned from the Olympics games hosted in Athens.
The former Ghana captain joined the Serie A Champions in 2003 but had a torrid time when he returned to the club from the Olympic games.
He was eventually ‘shipped’ to Turkish SuperLig side, Fernerbahce where he is now regarded as a club legend.
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“I was invited to the Juventus office and they said they didn’t want me to go for the Olympics,” he told Joy FM in an interview.
“I said I love Juventus but my country comes first. I went to Athens and that was the end of my Juventus career,” he recounted.
He was quizzed whether he desperately wanted to play for Juventus when the offer arrived and he answered in the affirmative.
“Of course I did, Juventus is Juventus,” he said.
He captained Ghana to the first ever World Cup appearance in Germany 2006 and was also present at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.