We all know how strong the scouting is at the New York Red Bulls, we also know when they bring in talent from within their academy, or transfer talent from another country and uses that said talent for their USL two club, you know they are bringing over the best of the best. Well in this case that said talent is now not playing any club football for the 2021 season.
Foubam, Cameroonian native and center back Hassan Ndam was a blossoming talent the Red Bulls had and was showing how strong the pipeline was for the club, he showed how strong he played in the USL Championship level and when he was at the MLS club he made two appearances and one of them was the fourth round victory over NYCFC in the 2018 US Open Cup.
During his two years down in the USL Championship League, with the USL Bulls, Ndam shows his strength as a Center Back with the club and had a knack for scoring a few incredible goals that made you scream with delight. If you are a Red Bulls supporter, you would want to see him challenging either Aaron Long or Tim Parker at the time for one of their starting spots.
But in the 2019 season, a USL Championship club had asperations to make the move to the top league in US Soccer as FC Cincinnati not only made their name with strong supporters culture but their road in their run to the 2017 US Open Cup that began in the second round, all the way to the Semi-Finals as they lost in extra time to the Red Bulls by a final of three goals to two.
For those two seasons, Ndam was with Red Bulls II, he played strong defense and showed the supporters and the club of the Queen City what he was all about on the backline, so when FC Cincinnati had their expansion draft, it was logical back in the 2019 off-season, that they brought over Ndam to be apart of their backline and defense, or so we thought.
For the two seasons Ndam was contracted to play for FC Cincinnati, he never played a single minute for the Orange & Blue. He spent two seasons on loan back in the USL Championship League, First with the Charlotte Independence in 2019 and then to the south beach as he was with Miami FC in 2020 in the coronavirus pandemic sseason. He played a combined 19 games within those two seasons.
But sadly when the calendar turned to 2021, FC Cincinnati decided not to keep him and is currently out of contract. How is it possible that a player like Hassan Ndam who was a shinning prospect with the New York Red Bulls, gets picked up by FC Cincinnati and they not only just send him back on loan to two different clubs in the Championship League, decides to throw him out on his back side and never use him at all?
I know at the moment the Red Bulls have a centerback problem due to injuries. Aaron Long is out for the entire season with the ruptured achilles, Andres Reyes is still out with injury, Sean Nealis has returned from his issues and was on the bench in the match at Toronto FC, Tom Edwards has been a saviour going from full back to center back, but if theRed Bulls can try to get Ndam back to the club and purchase his rights, I think it would be a big move to bring him back to where he played like the rockstar he can be.
But until them, we shall have to see if Ndam is even in the thoughts of heead coach Gerhart Struber and Manager of sport Kevin Thelwell, if there is a possibility that he can return and be apart of the club that had belief in him.