Last night it was confirmed that Ufa’s Ghanaian midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong has had his contract cancelled after only playing eight matches this season for the Russian Premier League’s youngest club.
Discussions aimed at finding a compromise between him and the club failed to reach a mutually beneficial conclusion, and it has been clear for some time that the relationship between Frimpong and his club has become fractious at best.
After nearly two seasons in Bashkiria – his longest period with with a single club – he becomes a free agent.
General Director of Ufa Shamil Gazizov explained yesterday that the decision to part company with Frimpong was down to his injury problems he attributed to the artificial surface at the club’s Dynamo stadium, sentiments echoed by manager Evgeniy Perevertaylo.
First an unidentified ankle problem was diagnosed, then concussion, with Perevertaylo claiming he had hardly seen the Ghanaian on the training pitch at all since he took over from Igor Kolyvanov.
Unlike some foreigners, however, he did make a reasonable effort to integrate himself into the group bylearning some Russian and mixing with his teammates.
The truth is likely to contain more than fitness concerns. On the opening day of this season, Frimpong was sent off for gesturing towards a group of Spartak fans who were clearly racially abusing him, but instead of supporting their player Frimpong was criticised.
Gazizov said the Ghanaian was not justified and had no right to do so referring to his one-fingered signal, while his captain Azamat Zaseev was disappointed that he couldn’t cope with his emotions.
Videos after the ugly incident, still readily accesible across the internet, clearly show monkey noises as Frimpong battles for possession with Jurado near the corner flag, and yet when the RFU were questioned by FIFA about their lack of action towards Spartak they claimed they found no evidence of racism.
The least Frimpong could have hoped for would be a noncommittal comment about dealing with the situation in-house, but instead he was cast as a trouble maker.
The fact that a look back at Frimpong’s time in Russia is characterised by negative incidents is telling: he is now 24years old, but has only taken part in 70 fully professional matches without scoring once.
A painful ruptured cruciateligament disaster while at Wolves alone cannot atone for this severe shortfall in appearances, although it must beremembered he was beginning to show signs of maturity at the tender age of 20 in what would have been a character-shaping relegation battle in the Midlands.
Had he not seen his resurgent first loan spell cut short, hewould have amassed a healthy dose of experience and could have either threatened to break through at theEmirates or have earned a move to a top flight club.
Instead, he was sold to Championship club Barnsley for just £250k two years ago where he was on the bench as much as he started, before moving to Ufa just after the 2014World Cup in Brazil.
When you have the pedigree of growing through the Arsenal youth academy a promising career is almost expected, but then Emmanuel Frimpong has never quite been ordinary.
His time in Russia has been punctuated by not only disciplinary issues – by the beginning of November he had been banned for more matches than he had started – but also by bizarre occurrences, none more so than his celebration of Ivan Paurevic’s goal against Lokomotiv last April.
As Ufa’s players congratulated the tall Croat, Frimpong grabbed he hero’s testicles in full view of the cameras;not only was he not embarrassed, but he retweeted a Vine of the incident himself.
His antics regarding the more personal aspects of he human form are not restricted to Russia, however.
While at Barnsley, he was duped by some teammates into sending some nude pictures of himself to an attractive fan. When it transpired that she was a fictitious person, again Frimpong’s reaction was not to suppress the news, but to broadcast itself on his Instagram account. Harmless fun one might say, but an intriguing insight into his image of himself in public.
So where next for the midfield enforcer? His agent has claimed there was previous interest from Turkey and the MLS, but if he has genuine ambitions to firge a top class career it wouldn’t be the fastest route to the top.
He has the undoubted quality to make a move back to a European league, but is perhaps tarnished a little by his record both on the pitch and off it.
One would imagine that the California-educated Ghanaian international would prefer a return to England for obvious reasons, and could reasonably expect to find takers in the lower reaches of the English Premiership.
His agents also look after Ashley Young, Dejan Lovren and his former Arsenal teammate Francis Coquelin so are well-connected in the English game.
A move to another country would be a risk for him, but he has proven he has the boldness to move to an unknown team in a very different culture.
The Dutch Eresdivisie has long been a springboard for players looking for regular exposure at a reasonable level and could offer European football if his agents earn their corn.
The top flight has a lengthy Europa League playoff system whereby the side that finishes seventh (out of 18) has a chance to make it into continental competition.
Surely the next move for Frimpong will be designed to launch his loftier aims, and he could do a lot worse than aim for FC Twente or AZ Alkmaar for example.
Despite having an engaging, energetic and self-confident personality mixed with an abundance of ability, Emmanuel Frimpong has never quite fit in wherever he has gone.
One hopes that his next move is free from trouble and he can finally get down to doing what he is meant to do – play football.
Source: Andrew Flint, www.russianfootballnews.com