Ottawa Fury Sign Aly Hassan From Strikers

It was an awfully long Spring Season for the Ottawa Fury forward line as they struggled to put away chances, leaving them with just 5 goals in 10 NASL matches and midfielder Nicki Paterson finishing as top scorer with two goals.  Dos Santos had promissed that he was working on bringing in one or two new faces to bolster the attacking line and he has done just that today with the signing of Aly Hassan from the Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

Photo by Chris Hofley/Ottawa Sun

The club announced the signing on Friday afternoon, just over a week before the beginning of the Fall Season.  Hassan will hopefully provide more finishing than Fury supporters saw from a struggling Tom Heinemann and Andrew Weideman, neither of which lived up to expectations in the Spring.  Hassan comes to the club on what is believed to be a free transfer from Fort Lauderdale, and the 26 real old will hopefully add a scoring touch to the Fury squad

Hassan told OttawaFuryFC.com “This is a great organization and a great team with great coaches, I’m excited about coming in to help the team in the attack and score some goals. I think it’s a great move for me. I love the atmosphere and the professionalism in Ottawa, and I’m looking forward to getting started.” Meanwhile Fury gaffer Marc Dos Santos said “Aly Hassan will be another strong option in our front line. He’s an experienced forward with a very good goals to games played ratio in the NASL and Fury FC will provide him with every opportunity to succeed and help our team win.”

Fury’s defense was fantastic near the end of the Spring Season, however they were severly let down by the offensive line, and there will be large expectations on Hassan to turn fortunes.  Due to the international transfer window Hassan will not be availble to play for Ottawa until at least July 8th, meaning he will miss their Fall Season opener on July 5th against Jacksonville Armada.