Former Ghana defender Samuel Osei Kuffour believes it was unnecessary for Kwasi Appiah to make changes to the Black Stars captaincy with few months to the start of the last Africa Cup of Nations.

Appiah took the armband from Asamoah Gyan, handing it to Andre Ayew before the 2019 tournament in Egypt. His decision forced Gyan to briefly end his international career, before rescinding following a conversation with President Akufo-Addo.

Many have attributed the Black Stars poor performance at the tournament to that decision, as the four-time winners failed to get close to winning the trophy. Instead, Ghana suffered an embarrassing round of 16 exit.

Kuffour was a member of the Normalisation Committee (NC), which had been placed in charge of the day to day running of the Ghana Football Association, at the time. He believes the whole drama could have been avoided had Kwasi Appiah waited till after the tournament to effect the changes.

The ex-Bayern star said these on Saturday's edition of the Joy Sports Link.

“It was a bit disturbing for the NC. I could see that some people are hit somewhere. You could see that Asamoah [Gyan] was really hurt about the whole situation," he said on Joy FM.

"It goes all the way to the President [Akufo-Addo] so NC had become limited. NC had nothing more to say about it. That is why the President came in and spoke to the two players with the coach and the [sports] ministry. In my view, it was a little bit hectic. Why couldn’t we wait until after the tournament then we make the change the captaincy?

“That period, Kwasi Appiah in my view should have probably had a second thought about the whole issue before making that decision [changing captains] and I think he [Asamoah Gyan] shouldn’t have said he wanted to retire. He should have calmed down. When you say those things, people may take it for granted.”

I would just leave it as it is [If I were Kwesi Appiah]. Asamoah Gyan is the captain. If he doesn’t play, Andre is the captain. Andre is like the second captain. He will wear the armband."

That will seal the case. For bringing Andre in and Asamoah out with the atmosphere and all that. They can laugh but within their hearts, how well would [they collaborate]?"

Black Stars haven't won the Afcon trophy since 1982.