FC Edmonton releases Lam, Van Leerdam, Vorbe and Barthelemy By Steven Sandor Posted on September 26, 2012 Comments Off on FC Edmonton releases Lam, Van Leerdam, Vorbe and Barthelemy 0 692 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Matt Lam in action against San Antonio. The post-season renovations have begun at FC Edmonton. The club, which finished at the bottom of the NASL standings in 2012, announced that four players — midfielders llja Van Leerdam, Matt Lam, Serisay Barthelemy and defender Fabien Vorbe — will not be back in 2013. “At this point we felt that changes had to be made,” said technical director Joe Petrone in a release issued by the club. “We’re looking at fresh faces so we need to make room. We want to keep the core intact but we also need to look at new players to bring in. Each of the players did well for our team and we wish them all well.” Lam’s release is really merely a formality. The club suspended him in late August over disciplinary issues and he never returned to training with the club. Lam returned to Edmonton in 2012 with much fanfare, after spending the 2011 campaign on loan to Japanese side JEF United. Lam issued a statement to The 11 last week (CLICK HERE) in response to his suspension by the club. Van Leerdam missed all of September’s matches after he went back home to the Netherlands for knee surgery. As a player well into his 30s, coming off a knee procedure, he’d present a large risk to bring back. Vorbe, a Haitian fullback, played 423 minutes of NASL action for the Eddies and was mainly used as a depth player. Barthelemy, who played at French side SC Bastia, was the biggest disappointment of the four. Heralded as a can’t-miss prospect coming out of February’s NASL combine, Barthelemy scored just once in a season slowed by injuries. But Barthelemy couldn’t repeat the dynamic play in the NASL regular season which he showed in the preseason and the combine.
