Ayew named African player of the year in France

Paris - Ghana midfielder Andre Ayew celebrated his final days with Marseille by being named on Monday best African player in France's Ligue 1.

Ayew, 25, finishes in front of Ivory Coast's Max-Alain Gradel (Saint-Etienne) and Tunisia's Aymen Abdennour (Monaco).

The young winger - a member of the Ghana side that lost to Ivory Coast 9-8 on penalties in this year's Africa Cup of Nations final - was picked by a jury of journalists and will receive the Marc-Vivien Trophy handed out by French radio RFI and TV channel France 24 later Monday.

Ayew, whose younger brother Jordan was also at Marseille before leaving for Lorient at the beginning of the season, has attracted interest from several English clubs including relegation-threatened Newcastle, a regular raider of Ligue 1, Tottenham, Arsenal and the club he idolised as a boy - Liverpool.

He moved a step closer to a dream move to the English Premier League after announcing he would be ending a 10 year stay at French giants Marseille.

"The president (Vincent Labrune) has spoken thus everything has been brought out into the open more or less," said Ayew, who scored 10 goals in 27 appearances this season.

"I am going to leave the club and it is a page turned.

"There are lots of things behind the decision. We tried to find a solution which would enable me to stay but for both parties it was complicated, whether it be for sporting or financial reasons.

"I was expecting more, I hoped the club would have a more competitive team for next year that could be title contenders and that's not certain.

"Also the club cannot offer me the same salary that I'm on at the moment," added Ayew, son of former Ghana and Marseille legend Abedi Pele.