Ibrahim Afellay is a talented player whose career started in the Spanish “Barcelona”. The footballer is equally effective in the position of both an attacker and an attacking midfielder. The main quality of Affelaya is the ability to play a dynamic game, demonstrate spectacular dribbling, distribute accurate, swift passes to partners, accelerating the match.
early years
A professional career started for Afella at the football academy of the Dutch club “USW Elinkwijk”. In the 1996/1997 season, the young player signed a preliminary contract with the management of the PSV Eindhoven team. A football player made his debut for a club from the Premier League in 2004, having appeared on the field with a spare bench in a cup match against NAK Breda. For the first time in the championship, Ibrahim Afellay played for Eindhoven on February 14 in a confrontation with Twente.
The real success came to the player after the meeting of “PSV” against “Feyenord”. Once in the starting lineup, Ibrahim Afellay signed the goal with two goals and made a good impression on the coaching staff of the team.
In November 2010, information about the interest in young football from leading European clubs began to appear in the Dutch press more and more often. The most likely new job for the midfielder was considered the highest Spanish division.
Going to Barcelona
At the beginning of the 2010/2011 season, the Spanish champion officially announced that he had reached an agreement with PSV Eindhoven on the transfer of a talented midfielder. Soon, Ibrahim Affelay arrived in Barcelona for a medical examination. The term of the agreement was 4.5 years, and the amount prescribed in the contract amounted to 3 million euros.
In the midst of the 2011/2012 season, Ibrahim Affelay received an unpleasant injury. Doctors diagnosed the player with cruciate ligament damage. A difficult operation was immediately performed for the football player. Subsequently, the restoration took more than six months.
After recovery, the affairs of the young guy in Barcelona did not go well. A talented and still promising midfielder rarely found himself on the field. Moreover, they released it mainly for replacement. Soon, Ibrahim Afellay began to think about changing the club.
Performances for Schalke 04
Ibrahim Afellay, whose goals were left in the past, managed to achieve the conclusion of a lucrative contract with one of the best clubs in the German league - Schalke. Here the Dutch midfielder went on loan.
In October 2012, Ibrahim Afellay not only marked his debut goal for the new team, but also did so in the Champions League match. Subsequently, a successful midfielder game allowed the club to advance quite far in the prestigious tournament.
In 2013, the leadership of the team received information that the club does not intend to redeem the player from Barcelona. Thus, after the lease agreement, the guy was forced to return to the ranks of the Spanish champion.
Transfer to Stoke City
At the beginning of the 2014/2015 season, Afella was still not a place in the “Barcelona”. Therefore, the club decided to send the player for rent. The new temporary team of Ibrahim was the Greek Olympiacos. However, here the midfielder lingered for only six months.
Not wanting to “warm up” the spare shop in Barcelona, the player turned to his own agent for help in order to find a club for an adequate continuation of his career. Soon interest in the football player was shown by the management of the Stoke City team, which performed in the English Premier League. After some time, Afella officially transitioned to a new club, where in the subsequent he managed to firmly gain a foothold in the first team as a midfielder.
Currently, Ibrahim continues to successfully play for the English club. To date, the player has 31 played matches and 2 goals scored in the championship.
Ibrahim Afellay: personal life
The footballer has the glory of an extremely decent and exemplary guy. Probably the fault is the strict Islamic upbringing that was practiced in the player’s family from an early age.
Even after moving to England and successfully continuing his career at Stoke City, Afellay was not seen in any scandal in which famous football players regularly participate. Quite rarely, a guy can be seen at parties and social events. The player does not play with celebrities and tries to lead the life of an ordinary average person.
Ibrahim spends his free time mainly with relatives, as well as his girlfriend Dorien Rose Duinker. Occasionally, he can be seen in company with colleagues in the football "workshop" Boyan Krkic and Klaas Jan Huntelaar.
Today, Afella's fortune is estimated at 7 million euros. The player managed to put together the main share of the capital while playing for Barcelona. However, despite an impressive cash reserve, Ibrahim does not have a business or a collection of expensive cars. According to official information, the only expensive property of a football player is a house in Athens.