André Morgan Rami Ayew (born 17 December 1989) is currently playing for the French Ligue 1 club Marseille. He is the second-born son of the three-time winner of the African Footballer of the Year award and FIFA 100 member Abedi Pele and has two brothers, Ibrahim and Jordan, who also play football.
Ayew began his career in his home country of Ghana playing for Nania. He made his debut for the club at age 14. In 2005, he signed with his father's former club, Marseille, and spent two seasons in the club's youth academy before making his debut for the club in the 2007–08 season. In the following two seasons, Ayew played on loan with Lorient and Arles-Avignon helping the latter team earn promotion to Ligue 1 for the first time. In 2010, Ayew returned to Marseille and became an integral part of the first team under manager Didier Deschamps.
Though born in France, Ayew is a Ghanaian international. At youth level, he starred for and captained the Ghana under-20 team that won both the 2009 African Youth Championship and the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup. At senior level, Ayew made his debut on 21 August 2007 against Senegal at the New Den Stadium in London. He has since represented his nation at the 2008 and 2010 editions of the Africa Cup of Nations and the 2010 FIFA World Cup. On 16 December 2011, a day to his 22nd birthday, he was named the BBC African Footballer of the Year for 2011 and Ayew was crowned as the Ghanaian Footballer of the Year. On 11 January 2008, Ayew was named to the Ghana squad to play in the 2008 Africa Cup of
Nations.
International career
Due to having dual French and Ghanaian citizenship, Ayew was eligible for France and Ghana. He initially chose France citing the failed inquiries of the Ghana Football Association to contact him as his reason why, but declared Ghana to be his first option citing his father. Ayew was, subsequently, called up and participated in a training camp with the France under-18 team. In 2007, he turned down several offers to play for the country's under-21 team.
Ayew later warned the Ghana Football Association that he was on the verge of representing France at international level stating "At this moment there is only one choice to make because I have only received an invitation from one country and that is France".
On 7 August 2007, Ayew was called up for the first time by Ghana coach Claude Le Roy for the team's friendly match against Senegal on 21 August. He made his international debut in the match appearing as a late-match substitute. On 11 January 2008, Ayew was named to the Ghana squad to play in the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations. He has made 47 appearances for Ghana and scored 4 goals. He loves to be in the number 10 shirt. He will be making his second appearance in the World Cup.
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