Stepping into the shoes of an accomplished star is quite a big task for any emerging talent. But Ghana’s Andre Ayew hopes to follow his father, Abedi Ayew Pele and help Ghana win its fifth African Nations Cup on his debut at the tournament.
The Olympique Marseille player is one of Claude Le Roy’s many attacking options for the tournament as Ghana gets the competition underway on Sunday at the Ohene Djan Stadium against Guinea in Group A.
There is a striking similarity between the Ayews as they both earned their African Cup of Nations debuts in their teens.
His father, a three-time former African Footballer of the Year, debuted at the CAN aged 17 as Ghana lifted the trophy in 1982 and Andre starts his Nations Cup journey for the Black Stars, at 18 years old as Ghana chase a fifth title success.
"I think we can do something great for this country in this tournament," Andre Ayew said on Friday in an interview with Reuters.
"I would obviously want to achieve the same as my father did. We are taking it all very seriously. As hosts we know we have to get off to a good start and to qualify for the next round."
And looking at Ghana’s opponents for Sunday, Andre admitted that the Guineans are a tough side but believed in the Black Stars’ ability to perform well in the competition.
"Guinea have a great team and we know Sunday's match will be difficult but we have the fighting spirit and the people behind us to go on and do great things at this tournament."
Andre Ayew is confident that says preparations have been good since Ghana’s training tour of the United Arab Emirates.
"We had all the opportunity to prepare properly in Dubai where we had a good training camp, which was great to build our team spirit," said Ayew.
"At the moment it has all gone off very well and if it continues like this we can go very far."
Being hosts of the tournament comes with great expectation for Ghana, the Black Stars midfielder says the team is not under pressure.
"I don't think we players feel the pressure as much as our coach," he said. "We know what we have to do, go out on the pitch and do what we know best."