On Wednesday, New York City FC announced that Ebenezer Ofori would be joining the club on a one-year loan deal from Bundesliga side VfB Stuttgart. The 22-year-old will join the club as one of many signings made by NYCFC this offseason.
Ofori's European experience will add to an impressive midfield which already features Maxi Moralez, Alex Ring, and Yangel Herrera. Patrick Vieira has a good problem on his hands in which he'll have have to find the perfect midfield that he thinks can bring an MLS Cup to NYCFC.
Career Path
After spending time in the club's youth academy, Ofori began his professional career with New Edubiase United F.C., a Ghanaian club. The Ghanaian native made 17 appearances for the club in the 2012/2013 season, scoring 4 goals.
Following an impressive season in Ghana, he was swooped up by Swedish club, AIK Fotboll. After making his debut against Manchester United debut in a friendly, the now 22-year-old went on to finish his Swedish stint with 81 appearances and earning the award for Best Midfielder in the Swedish Allsvenskan in 2015.
Earlier this winter, NYCFC added Anton Tinnerholm. The Swedish fullback joined the club after winning Defender of the Year in the same league this past season.
At the end of the January transfer window in 2017, Ofori joined VfB Stuttgart where he helped the club gain promotion to Germany's top flight.
After joining the German club, Ebenezer earned his first international call-up and has since grabbed a total of 8 caps for Ghana and scored one goal at the international level.
Quotes
The 22-year-old began by saying "I'm feeling good and happy because I've been looking forward to starting this new chapter with a big club like NYCFC." He continued to say "For me, I just want to be part of a successful team this year, to be happy and to play in and win many games as I can with my new team."
Patrick Vieira, who knows a thing or two about playing in the middle of the park said "I'm really excited to bring in Ebenezer - he's a young player who is looking to improve, he is really dynamic and can cover ground. He's really aggressive but he's good with the ball too. I'm really pleased that we managed to bring him to the football club."
The club's manager followed that up with "He's a competitor, he's a guy who likes to win, he's a strong character. He's coming to this club to compete with the midfielders we have and, like I always say, that will bring the best out of all of the players we have at this football club."
Claudio Reyna weighed in as well, saying "Ebenezer plays as a holding midfielder that can help dictate the tempo of the game with his quality passing ability. He has good technique combined with a very good game understanding that will provide another element to our team."
Quotes via NYCFC.com