Floribert N'Galula

DC United continues to use unconventional methods to fill out their roster.  Last year it was a Serbian-born Canadian who was playing with Red Star Belgrade.  Then earlier this month it was an Austrialian striker who spent plenty of time in the Premiership before venturing to Qatar.

And now we have the acquisition of a Congolese defender/midfielder whose brief soccer history includes Anderlecht, Manchester United, and Sparta Rotterdam.  That man is Floribert N'Galula.  And boy is his name awesome!

I commented on the FanPost about N'Galula that he reminds me of two former DC United defenders who were also young Africans: Ibrahim Koroma and David Habarugira.  Both were total busts, with Habarugira making only a couple appearances in the CCL in 2009, and Koroma never seeing the field with the first team in 2008.


The difference?  Koroma was 18 when he started here.  Habarugira was 20.  N'Galula is 22.  Hopefully that additional experience has added to his pedigree, and he can make a legitimate impact with our squad this year.

I'm still not sure where he'll play though.  Soccer Insider is saying that he can play either holding midfielder or central defense.  Those are both positions of need for us.  But a 22-year old with only reserve team experience is not exactly what we had in mind when calling for the club to sign a veteran central defender. 

So as far as I can tell, Flo's most likely position seems to be as either a backup for Clyde Simms, or a backup for Julius James.  It's good to have depth.  But what's next?