A WORLD Cup star has appeared in public to deny bizarre rumours that he murdered a rapper in a ritual sacrifice to enhance his football career.

Former Sunderland striker Asamoah Gyan held a press conference this afternoon (Wednesday, September 24) to refute extraordinary rumours, repeated in the press in Ghana, that he had killed his musician friend Theophilus Tagoe, also known as Castro.

The singer and girlfriend Janet Badu disappeared in July during a holiday with Gyan and a group of friends at the Aqua Safari Resort in southern Ghana, paid for by the 28-year-old footballer.

The couple were last seen heading out on the River Volta on a jet ski and are now missing, presumed drowned. However, because the authorities have failed to find their bodies, speculation mounted in his homeland that Castro had been murdered in a ritual sacrifice, a story repeated in the popular national newspaper The Daily Graphic.

Gyan, who signed for Sunderland in a £13m deal after a spellbinding performance in the 2010 World Cup, felt compelled to appear at a remarkable press conference today to deny the rumours.

In a statement read by his lawyer, Kissi Agyabeng referred to “wild allegations and rumours directed especially at Asamoah Gyan – ranging from the absurd – of the imputation of criminality to him in the sense that he either murdered Castro or had him kidnapped – and ending with the ludicrous – that he sacrificed him spiritually to enhance his career”.

He added that the Gyan family: “are not blamable for the disappearance of Castro and Janet Bandu. We had no hand in that occurrence. We have no moral or legal culpability whatsoever”.

The Ghana captain, who played 34 games for Sunderland before his big money move to Abu Dhabi-based Al Ain, had recorded several duets with Castro and described the musician as his “brother”.

He said: “We will never do anything to harm him. We are in unimaginable pain and shock and we will give anything to Castro and Janet back."

However, the lawyer also issued a family apology after a journalist with the Daily Graphic was “roughed up”by a gang of youths in the presence of Gyan’s brother Baffour.

The lawyer added: “We humbly call for a truce between the Gyan brothers on the one hand, and the media on the other hand.

“We are reaching out a friendly hand to journalists and the media. Please accept it - it is time to let the matter rest”.