After his vital goals against Egypt and Zambia in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, the name Abdul Majeed Waris emerged on the Ghanaian soccer scene. Over a short period of time, it became one of the most loved names in Ghanaian football.
A year down the line, it appears the pomp and pageantry that greeted this name is fading away.
A once bright prospect, once considered a potential challenger to Asamoah Gyan’s throne, the striker has netted just one goal since December 2013.
How do you solve a problem like Majeed Waris?
The Background
They might be looking complicated now but Waris’ goal “troubles” started when he picked up two serious injuries – a calf injury while with Valenciennes (Ligue 1) in January 2014 and a thigh injury while on international duty with the Black Stars just before the 2014 World Cup in June.
His first injury came at a time when he was scoring regularly for the Ligue 1 side and it meant his good form was cut short, which affected his preparations for the World Cup.
Ultimately, he only got to play in the Ghana’s 2-1 loss to Portugal.
This poor run of form was carried into the 2014/15 season, where after returning from the World Cup, he was deprived of crucial game time at Spartak Moscow and was given only three appearances from the bench.
He subsequently managed to secure a move to Turkish side Trabzonspor in the summer of 2014 but unfortunately for him, he has often been played out of position, out wide on the left hand side of attack 8 times already this season, instead of a more comfortable central role upfront.
WARIS IS DIPPING IN FORM
Again, a look at Waris’ statistics at club level at Trabzonspor via Squakwa, a renowned football database engine shows that, the player’s form has been dropping at a very alarming rate since he made his debut against Fernabache.
A preview of Waris’ performance at club level has been shown in the graph below;
| Waris’s stats for his Appearances: Matches 1 and 9 | |||
| GAMES | SCORELINE | MINUTES PLAYED | PERF. RATE |
| Erciyesspor | 0 | DID NOT PLAY | 0 |
| Trabzonspor | 0 | ||
| Trabzonspor | 0 | PLAYED 90 MINS | 9 |
| Fernabache | 0 | ||
| Instabul Basaksehir | 1 | PLAYED 90 MINS | ( – 31 ) |
| Trabzonspor | 1 | ||
| Trabzonspor | 1 | PLAYED 13 MINS | ( – 6 ) |
| Kasimpasa | 1 | ||
| Karabukspor | 3 | PLAYED 57 MINS | ( – 17 ) |
| Trabzonspor | 0 | ||
| Trabzonspor | 3 | PLAYED 76 MINS | 32 |
| Mersin Idmanyurdu | 1 | ||
| Trabzonspor | 4 | PLAYED 35 MINS | 13 |
| Gaziantepsor | 4 | ||
| Akhisar Belediyespor | 1 | PLAYED 85 MINS | 0 |
| Trabzonspor | 1 | ||
| Trabzonspor | 3 | DID NOT PLAY | 0 |
| Konyaspor | 2 | ||
He averages a performance rating of 30% per game, has an indifferent shooting rate of 50% and has only managed to create 7 chances in his 9 appearances.
These pointers tell us how much the former Right To Dream player’s performances have declined.
He must simply sit up or might have to give up his place in the Black Stars set –up to budding prospects like David Accam(17 goals in 25 games), Derrick Mensah(4 goals in 9 games) and Boakye Yiadom (2 goals in 10 games) who have blistering form for their respective clubs scoring week in and week out.
By: Benjamin Epton Owusu/citifmonline.com/Ghana