Ibrahim Afellay is having a medical at Stoke City, according to Sky Sports.

The 29-year-old is currently a free agent having been released by Barcelona this summer, bringing to an end an injury-plagued four years on the books at the Spanish club.

Afellay looking to put injury troubles behind him

The Dutch attacker secured a dream move to Barcelona back in 2011 after impressing with PSV Eindhoven in his homeland, but, after making 28 appearances and scoring two goals in his debut season for the club, Afellay would suffer a serious injury set-back.

He struggled with a minor hamstring injury in pre-season and then, after recovering from this, Afellay would be ruled out for almost the entire season due to an anterior cruciate ligament injury that required surgery.

He returned to action as a substitute towards the end of the campaign, but would endure more problems the following year whilst on loan at Schalke 04.

Several muscle strains in quick succession led to the player missing the majority of the season, with him out of action from November onwards in another campaign to forget. Afellay returned to Barcelona for the start of the 2013-14 season, but would play just two games in all competitions for the club after having another operation, this time to treat a thigh injury.

Promising season on loan at Olympiacos shows he can bounce back

Afellay spent the 2014-15 campaign on loan in Greece with Olympiacos, and he was impressive in that time, playing 29 games and scoring six goals in the process.

He showed that, despite his injury probelms, his talent remains and he has the ability to revive his career still - even if not to the standard that he produced in his years at PSV and that first season with Barcelona.

As well as this, with the Netherlands' national football team undergoing managerial changes, Afellay will be keen to stake a claim for a place in the team after problems doing so due to injury. He has earned just five of his 50 caps for his country in the last two years, and will hope to add to this half-century still before the end of his career.

Stoke looking for creativity

Having missed out on Internazionale's Xherdan Shaqiri, having a bid reportedly accepted but then the player choosing to wait for a better offer from elsewhere, Stoke are still looking for a creative attacker, despite securing the services of Chelsea's Marco van Ginkel on loan for the upcoming season.

Afellay, who can either play as a winger or an attacking midfielder, would help fill this void, with the team having very few options in the latter position at the moment in particular, especially as another former Barcelona man, Bojan Krkic, still out with a knee injury sustained back in January.

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About the author
Amee Ruszkai
Head of the Sunderland, Swansea City and women football sections at VAVEL UK. Email: [email protected]