New York City FC Linked to Ben Arfa, Signs Adam Nemec
It’s another day and another international is being linked to New York City FC. This time around it is French international Ben Arfa. Soccer By Ives first reported it on twitter early on Thursday:
Report: Hatem Ben Arfa linked with move to NYCFC - http://t.co/Zn139GTLkH #NYCFC #Nice #BenArfa #MLS
— SBI Soccer (@SBISoccer) February 5, 2015
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Ben Arfa, who is currently a free agent, has been in discussions with New York City FC with regards to a possible move. Arfa is currently club-less after being released by France’s Nice after a registration error ruled the French winger ineligible. Having previously played for Hull City as well as Newcastle’s reserves, Arfa was unable to register with Nice upon his transfer to the club on Jan. 5.The 27-year-old winger has also previously featured for Marseille and Lyon.
It appears that New York City FC is trying to build their team by bringing over players that have played all over the world. The have brought in U.S. international Mix Diskerud as well as England international Frank Lampard. We all know how the Lampard situation went down. It has been a black eye for the club. On top of that fiasco, just last week their President of the club stepped down as well.
However, just 30 minutes later Soccer By Ives followed up their Ben Arfa tweet with the following:
UPDATE: Hatem Ben Arfa linked with move to NYCFC, but source claims there’s no truth to the report: http://t.co/Zn139GTLkH #NYCFC
— SBI Soccer (@SBISoccer) February 5, 2015
So who knows what is really going on. It is that crazy time of year and names do get thrown around like crazy. The 2015 MLS season is just around the corner. Teams need to start finalizing their squads before the start of the season. It doesn’t mean that he couldn’t be brought in later, but it doesn’t help the chemistry of this team.
Another thing NYCFC should be aware of is the fact that he has faced a difficult past two seasons. The Frenchman wore out his welcome with both Newcastle and Hull City. That is the last thing that NYCFC need is a possible player that could cause issues in the locker room. As a Seattle Sounders fan, I have seen what a disgruntled player can do to a locker room no matter how much talent said player has.
photo courtesy of New York City FC website/nycfc.com
The club also signed Adam Nemec earlier in the week. Nemec, 29, most recently played for German side Union Berlin in the 2. Bundesliga, scoring 14 goals in 64 appearances. Nemec has also represented his national team 14 times. More recently he scored 2 goals in Euro 2016 qualifying this past November and will be added to NYCFC’s roster for the 2015 season pending receipt of his International Transfer Certificate and P1 Visa.