Edwin Gyimah emotionally opens up on why he ditched Orlando Pirates in 2017 amid bad friends and regrets over leaving Buccaneers
Former Orlando Pirates midfielder Edwin Gyimah has revealed emotional explanations to why he left Pirates for Helsingborgs IF in 2017.
The Ghanaian midfielder was one of the best players in the Premier Soccer League since his arrival from Ghana Premier League side Legon Cities Football Club back in 2011.
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Gyimah, 29, initially signed for SuperSport United before his four stay with the Swanky Boys backed his transfer to Orlando Pirates in 2015.
After establishing as a regular in the line-up, and eventually won the heart of ‘Buccaneers supporters, the Ghanaian midfielder quit Orlando Pirates for Swedish side Helsingborgs IF in 2017.
During the time the former Ghana Premier League midfielder was fighting to leave the Orlando Stadium, Pirates knee keeping his services for longer but the Black Stars player finally left.
Since 2017, no one know why the former Pirates man left the PSL, and Gyimah has now revealed the reason he departed Orlando Pirates in 2017. He smelled advised from someone who isn’t a footballer and referred to as ‘a bad friend’ influenced Gyimah’s decision to leave Pirates.
“You know in football there are so many things we soccer players need to learn. “I feel like so many players have learned those kind of lessons. Because one, our private lives play a big role in the game, people we keep around us in our private lives, the people who we take advice from, they play a big role in our career,” ” Gyimah told KickOff.com.
“So leaving Pirates… bad friends and the bad decisions from my side, because I didn’t really know the culture of South Africans… I didn’t know, even though I’ve been here since SuperSport [United].
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“With the Pirates thing it’s really about something that’s outside football that I couldn’t control, that affected me to take that decision. It wasn’t about the Muhsin incident at all. It was something off the field that pushed me to take that decision.
“You know there are a lot of players who are being influenced by people outside of football. Some will say ‘you playing for Pirates but maybe if you leave Pirates you can go to Europe, you can go here’… you know there are so many things. There are so many kind of advisors that a player gets off the field.
Gyimah has struggled to find the perfect rhythm to his career and admits he regret leaving the South African giants.
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“You know leaving Pirates was the biggest decision in my life that I could take. I regret leaving Pirates because I feel like there was so much in me that I could have offered for the team.
“The supporters loved me, everybody loved me at Pirates, there were no problems there. I feel like I could offer so much for the team, even now I think like I could offer so much.
“When I watch their game, when I watch how they play, I feel like I could still offer something for them. The supporters loved me.
“It was my own decision, nobody chased me out at Pirates. Let me be honest, leaving Pirates I regret because there are some decisions that I have made in the past that didn’t help me.
“The day I left Pirates, that’s when everything stopped in my career. That’s when everything stopped in my life.
The 29-year-old Ghana joined Black Leopards in 2019 but has struggled to impress having been limited to only two appearances so far. His struggles continue at Black Stars where he has been omitted from subsequent call ups since 2017.
