Ibrahim Afellay

Ibrahim Afellay is a Moroccan-Dutch professional footballer who plays for Schalke 04, on loan from FC Barcelona as an attacking midfielder or winger. He is described as a powerful and dynamic player with great ball skills and the ability to speed up action on the pitch. Afellay switched to the youth academy of PSV Eindhoven. Afellay\'s official debut for PSV Eindhoven was on 4 February 2004 during a cup match against NAC Breda. On 15 May 2005, PSV Eindhoven played a game against Feyenoord. Afellay was a part of the starting lineup, and made a great impression with five goals in 4 matches. On 13 September, Afellay made his Champions League debut against Schalke 04. On 5 December 2010, Afellay travelled to Barcelona for a medical test to finalize the deal. The fee to transfer for FC Barcelona was reported to be around €3 million. Afellay recently signed a contract that will tie him until 2015 with the club and wears the squad number 20. Afellay made his Blaugrana debut on 5 January 2011 in the Copa del Rey against Athletic Bilbao. He scored his first goal for Barcelona against UD Almería in the Copa del Rey. Afellay made his debut for Barça in the Champions League in the second match against Arsenal, and came close to scoring on two occasions. He scored his first league goal in a 3–1 away win for Barcelona against Málaga CF on the last day of the 2010–11 season. 31 August 2012, he moved to Schalke 04. He has played for the Dutch national youth team and is now part of the senior Dutch national team, which he represented at UEFA Euro 2008 and the 2010 FIFA World Cup.