Abdisalam Ibrahim
Abdisalam Abdulkadir Ibrahim (born 1 May 1991, Mogadishu ) is a Norwegian football player of Somali origin who is currently at the Greek club Olympiakos Piraeus under contract. He is the first player with Somali roots, who played in the Premier League.
Career
Born in Mogadishu, he moved with his family in 1998 after Norway. There he played in the youth teams of Øyer - Tretten IF and IF Lørenskog until 2005 Fjellhamar FK, where he gave in 2006 at the age of 15 years, made his debut in the men's team.
He signed the beginning of 2007 a three-year contract for the youth academy of the English top clubs Manchester City, valid from 1 July 2007. In the spring of 2008 he won with his team the FA Youth Cup, where after return match 4-2 prevailed against Chelsea.
His first professional game at the Citizens he completed on 24 January 2010 at the FA Cup tie against Scunthorpe United. To this end, he sat on the bench in the 1-3 defeat against rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford in the League Cup and the win against Portsmouth on 31 January. On February 21, he was finally his Premier League debut in the 0-0 draw against Liverpool. On April 7, 2010, he and his club agreed on a new contract, which ran until 2014.
In January 2011, Ibrahim was loaned for one month at Scunthorpe United, but after the end of the month the loan period was extended until season end. For Scunthorpe, he completed eleven games without any scoring.
For the season 2011/12 Ibrahim was loaned to NEC Nijmegen. On December 3, in the 3-3 draw against FC Groningen he scored his first goal as a professional. As Ibrahim with his reserve role in N.E.C. was not satisfied, the player and the two clubs agreed the end of March, that he returned directly to Manchester City.
For the season 2012/13 Ibrahim moved on loan to his hometown to Strømsgodset IF. A rental contract ran until the end. In January 2013, the loan agreement was extended for another six months.
In January 2014, Ibrahim joined the Greek giants Olympiakos Piraeus. The midfielder signed a 3.5 year contract and was loaned out for the second half of the season to the Greek first division club Ergotelis.
National
Ibrahim has been through all Norwegian youth national teams from U -15 to U-19. Although he is still eligible to play for the U- 19, he plays even for the U- 21st He would still have the option for his country Somalia to play, but he wants to play in the case of nomination for Norway. This was confirmed by his national team debut on January 15, 2014 in a 2-1 victory over Moldova.
Game style
Despite his young age, his playing style is compared to the style of play of his former team-mates Patrick Vieira.
Achievements
Manchester City:
- FA Youth Cup: 2008
Strømsgodset IF:
- Norwegian Champion: 2013