Appiah explains reasons for not joining Persepolis

TEHRAN TIMES – TEHRAN, Former Ghana captain Stephen Appiah said that Persepolis General Manager Mohammad Ruyanian has been interested in signing him but the Portuguese coach didn’t want him.
 
He has played down reports that his move to the Iranian football giants has failed due to medical reasons.
 
“I heard a lot of reports about health reasons and I don’t know where this is coming from. I did not even undergo a medical test,” Appiah was quoted as saying by Joy Sports.
 
“The president said it was a done deal. And I don’t want to sound like I am blaming the coach but some of the fans confirmed to me that the coach wanted to bring his own players thus failure of the completion of my move there,” he said.
 
Stephen Appiah arrived in Tehran last week and trained with Persepolis but failed to reach an agreement with the team’s officials.
 
“I have been training on my own twice a day with my personal trainer so I am fit. But as you know in football you can train 20 hours a day but it’s not the same thing when you go on the pitch. So it’s very important to get a team to play with,” Appiah told Joy Sports.
 
“The skipper (Mehdi Mahdavikia) came to me in the dressing room after our training session and was amazed at my body and how fit I looked. I told him it was a result of my constant training even though I haven’t touched a ball since July,” the former Juventus and Fernabahce star said.
 
Appiah announced his retirement from international football in 2010 in order to concentrate on club football in a career. He has played in Italy for clubs Udinese, Parma, Brescia, Juventus, Bologna and Cesena and Fenerbahce (Turkey), FK Vojvodina(Serbia).