Contract of former Barcelona midfielder and World Cup finalist terminated by Stoke

Stoke have confirmed that Ibrahim Afellay’s contract with the club has been terminated by mutual consent.

With six months remaining on his most recent deal, the 32-year-old Dutch player hadn’t started once for The Potters this season and, since joining from Barcelona in 2015, has only made 55 appearances in his three-and-a-half year spell.

Five things to know about Ibrahim Afellay…

1. Ibrahim Afellay was born in Utrecht but spent his youth and early career at the esteemed academy of PSV Eindhoven.
2. After impressing during his 159 league matches for the club, Pep Guardiola signed the youngster to Barcelona.
3. Afellay’s stint in Catalonia was unsuccessful and loan spells at Schalke 04 and Olympiacos didn’t help his case.
4. Although of Moroccan descent, Afellay chose to play for the Netherlands and represented his national side on 53 occasions and finding the net seven times.
5. After a disagreement with former manager Paul Lambert in 2017, Afellay was banned from the Stoke dressing room effectively ending his career at the side.

The club’s statement in full read:

“STOKE CITY can confirm that Ibrahim Afellay’s contract with the Club has been terminated by mutual consent.

The former Dutch international had six months to run on his existing contract and is now free to find another club.

Afellay spent three-and-a-half years at the bet365 Stadium, making 55 league and cup appearances and scoring three goals. However, in recent years he has been beset by injury problems.

The Club would like to take this opportunity to thank Ibrahim for his efforts and wish him well in the future.”

What went wrong for Ibrahim Afellay?

His career began brightly at PSV as he won four Eredivisie titles, a KNVB Cup and was named individually as the 2007 Dutch Football Talent of the Year.

Other winners of the award include Marc Overmars, Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and most recently Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona target Matthijs de Ligt.

Although he only made 35 total appearances after his move to Barcelona, Afellay was still able to add a LaLiga, Copa del Rey and Champions League trophy to his name.

Suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury, the Dutchman sat out for seven months and struggled to break back into the Barcelona side after his recovery.

Notified of his likely lack of future game time by new manager Tito Vilanova, Afellay embarked on an unsuccessful spell on loan in Germany before finding some form again at Olympiacos. Still, it wasn’t enough and a move to Stoke followed.

Plagued by injury and dressing room problems, his career at Stoke reached a low point and he’s yet to kick the ball this season.

Although details of his departure here have yet to be revealed, it comes at a tricky point in his career. While the player undoubtedly has talent in abundance, his unwillingness to integrate at his clubs has proved troublesome.

As a young player that had displayed so much potential, his career trajectory has been sad to witness. This next move looks like it could very well be his last opportunity to prove himself as a professional player.

 

 

 

The post Ibrahim Afellay’s Stoke contract terminated by mutual consent appeared first on Squawka News.

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