THE FORMER-BARCELONA PLAYER IS AVAILABLE ON A FREE TRANSFER, BUT IS HE WORTH TAKING A CHANCE ON?
By: Peter Nicolaides
Having signed for Barcelona at the smart-sum of just €3 million from PSV in the winter transfer window of 2011, Affelay seemed on his way to the top. Affelay was one of Pep Guardiola’s effective subsitutes in the 2-0 win at the Bernabeu against Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final with an assist for Leo Messi’s opening goal in another heated El Clasico. Winning the Champions League and La Liga that season, Affelay had the potential to become the next Dutch superstar.
Sadly the train got derailed. A string of injuries resulted in Affelay losing his place in the Barcelona squad as a whole. Affelay would go on to have two unconvincing loan spells at Schalke and Olympiakos. Affelay failed to cement a spot in either clubs’ starting XI as injury-niggles followed him to Germany and Greece, although the former-Dutch international did pick up the league and cup double with the Greek club.
Affelay has become the forgotten man of Dutch football as the rest of the world fell in love with the likes of Memphis Depay, Jordie Classie, Stefan De Vrij, Bruno Martins Indi, Georginio Wijnaldum, Bas Dost and Davy Klaassen, Johnathan de Guzman and Daley Blind. Whilst the above-mentioned players excelled at the 2014 World Cup, some would seal moves to bigger European clubs, some are linked to big moves in the upcoming window. Affelay should have been part of that list, sadly he was not. Every time a nation has a crop of players forming part of a so-called “golden-generation” there is always one who suffers the bad luck of being injury prone. In this case, it’s Ibraheem Affelay.
Available on a free transfer, Affelay might be a player worth taking a gamble on. Aged 29, Affelay does have a few good years of football left in him yet. Being able to play out wide and as an attacking midfielder, his versatility may be of use to several Serie A managers.
Clubs such as Fiorentina, Genoa have had success in recent times with the forgotten men, the journeymen and the write-offs. Tino Costa, Iago Falque, Diego Perotti, Alberto Aquilani, Gonzalo Rodriguez, Giuseppe Rossi being a few examples.
At 29, a club could resurrect Affelay’s top-level career and even sell him on for a profit in a season or two – especially with the amounts of money floating around in English football, America and Asian football – where a player’s sell-on value is not an issue. Affelay is a gamble worth taking for a club in mid-table or amongst the bracket of clubs aspiring to challenge for a Europa League place. With 12-man substitute benches now a part of Italian football, Affelay could be a useful impact-sub for several Serie A clubs.
The post Should Serie A Clubs take a chance on Ibraheem Affelay? appeared first on Italian Football Daily.
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