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A theatre that is the transfer window

Love it or hate it, the transfer window is wonderful theatre and the UAE has been a stage for some great action over the month of January

  • Brian Murgatroyd
  • Published: 00:00 February 9, 2012
  • XPRESS

Love it or hate it, the transfer window is wonderful theatre and the UAE has been a stage for some great action over the month of January.

The one club among the 12 in the Etisalat Pro League which kept their cash at home were Al Ain and that may have been down simply to the adoption of the old adage that if it isn't broke then don't fix it. The Boss is top of the table, have no AFC Champions League to worry about and Coach Cosmin Olaroiu knows later this month he will be able to welcome back star striker Asamoah Gyan from the African Cup of Nations, an enviable position to be in.

Interestingly the top three sides in the table - Al Ain, Al Nasr and Al Jazira - between them only brought in four players. One of those four players was Italian striker Luca Toni and his arrival at Al Nasr has the potential to be the coup of the window. If the Ex-Juventus star retains his hunger and can adapt to UAE football - two big ifs in light of fellow World Cup winner David Trezeguet's disastrous and short-lived spell at Baniyas - then he could be a superb acquisition, especially if he can assist coach Walter Zenga's drive to show locally based players the value of greater levels of professionalism.

Panic changes

But if all was relative calm among the leading clubs, several teams further down the ladder betrayed a sense of panic with wholesale changes.

Diego Maradona's Al Wasl jettisoned two of its misfiring overseas stars Edson Puch and Richard Porta, and replaced them with Iranian striker Reza Khalatbari and Juan Mercier, an Argentine defender. Puch and Porta were among five ousted.

Likewise, Sharjah dispensed with half its overseas contingent, freeing Eman Mobali and Igor Duric and replacing them with Korean midfielder Lee Song Ho and Brazilian defender Vandinho. The sense of confusion is best illustrated by the fact that Vandinho had been released earlier in the season only to come back while coach Valeriu Tita is back for the second time this term after being sacked by a previous regime that has, itself, resigned.

If Toni was the highest profile of the January arrivals, the most pleasing for the majority of UAE football fans was the return of Fran Yeste, the Spaniard signing for Baniyas after a brief spell with Greek side Olympiakos.

Surplus Yeste

Yeste was arguably the Pro League's player of the season last term when at Al Wasl, combining creativity, a great engine and an eye for goal. Maradona deemed him surplus to requirements but it is great to see such a talented player back and the timing of his arrival could not be better from a Baniyas perspective given the club is about to embark on an AFC Champions League campaign and finds itself in the semi-final of the President's Cup.

Elsewhere, Ivorian striker Boris Kabi, who previously tasted Pro League action at Al Dhafra, has the unenviable job of following in Ebrahima Toure's footsteps after the prolific Senegalese striker left for Monaco, while Cameroon international Emana has stepped in at Al Ahli, taking up the slack left by Jaja's abrupt departure back home to Brazil.

So, the window has now slammed shut, the 12 Pro League teams have gone about their business - or, in the case of Al Ain, no business at all - and now the players they have are the ones who will guide them to glory, anonymity or ignominy. Which path each of those clubs will take will be determined over the next four months. It should make for great watching.

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