Even though he was only 26 years old and in the prime of his career, Ghanaian midfielder Bernard Mensah revealed in November 2020 that he was leaving the Black Stars.
Mensah revealed in a statement that he had made the decision to put an end to his international career in order to concentrate on club football.
“I have decided to take a break from the national team until further notice,” the statement announcing his retirement said. For now, I want to focus on my career. I appreciate everyone in Ghana’s support.
There have been a lot of rumors since his retirement regarding the incident that forced him to end his international career.
Ghanaian coach Christopher Nimley has revealed the circumstances that “forced” Bernard Mensah to depart the Black Stars before his contract was up.
He said that Bernard Mensah left the Black Stars because to what he perceived as unfairness and bias on the part of the administration regarding how they handled an on-field altercation involving Jordan Ayew and him.
Coach Nimley claims the aforementioned incident happened during Ghana’s 3-0 thrashing of Mali in a friendly match.
On Pure FM, he recounted how, during the match, Mensah charged Jordan Ayew to assist retrieve the ball after he gave it away and Ayew failed to press the Malians.
Christopher Nimley claims that Jordan Ayew took offense and brought the matter to the attention of the Black Stars’ management.
According to coach Nimley, Bernard Mensah was hurt and opted to leave the team after it was planned to punish him by not playing in the next game against Qatar.
“Several players are furious that they weren’t chosen for the AFCON. Jeffrey Schlupp has every right to have participated in the AFCON. In my opinion, Bernard Mensah is currently the greatest eight. Due to poor management, that boy has declined to play for the Black Stars.
He got into a fight with Jordan Ayew during our match against Mali. Jordan received a pass from him, and Jordan then handed the ball away. Jordan got enraged and protested to management after he yelled at him to press and recover the ball. The way in which the circumstance was managed. As you remember, we played Qatar after the game against Mali, and we were defeated. The child made the decision to quit from the team after he did not play in that game. Jordan seemed to be given preference, which made him unhappy, he added.
Currently, Bernard Mensah plays for Al Tai in the Saudi league.
