Habshi calls for re-think

Dubai: Oman and Bolton Wanderers goalkeeper Ali Al Habshi has welcomed the signing of Italian World Cup winner Fabio Cannavaro by Al Ahli but says young Emirati players must experience European football if the game is to improve in the region.

"Bringing one European player into the UAE will benefit maybe three or four Al Ahli players, but to spend that money on sending ten players out will have more influence on the league and national team when they return," said the 28-year-old in an exclusive phone interview to Gulf News.

"While Fabio Cannavaro's Al Ahli signing is a fantastic way to improve the [UAE Football] league's status — sending young Emirati footballers out on loan to Europe is the best long-term solution to improving the players."

Since leaving Salalah's Al Nasr Club in 2003, Al Habshi remains the only GCC-born player in European football, with 18 league and cup appearances for Bolton since 2006, six of which were clean sheets.

He has returned to make over 70 appearances for his country, collecting best goalkeeper gongs at the last five Gulf Cup finals, including the one the sultanate won as hosts in 2009.

Commenting on the future of the game in the region he said players should be looking for loan deals in the lower leagues of Belguim, Holland and Norway before looking to the bigger European leagues.

Overcoming obstacles

However, Blackburn boss Sam Alardyce, who brought Ali over to England via intermediary and Muscat-based scout John Burridge, said there were obstacles to overcome in securing loan deals to Europe.

"To bring Ali to Bolton was a hugely difficult task. Work permit-wise he had to first go to Norway's Lyn Oslo for two years until he gained enough international caps and they [Oman] had to get to 75th in the world [Fifa rankings] before he could get to Bolton, which was difficult," he said.

"The best thing to do is to continue to train your own players with these facilities here. Get higher standards like Cannavaro in and then be patient. Put a five-year plan into place instead of one or two years."

Yousuf Abdullah, General Secretary of the UAE Football Association agreed that to send players to Europe would benefit the national team in the long run and suggested that Cannavaro could be pivotal to helping young players get into Europe.

"We're still a young professional league. We've only been professional for two seasons. Players need time to understand their football. Invest time and money into this and I'm sure in the future we'll see an Emirati in Europe. In the meantime Cannavaro can help speed up this process," said Abdullah.

Carlo Nohra, CEO of the UFL, said, "A loan agreement is a bilateral agreement. Foreign clubs must be interested in such moves and this interest can only come if players are genuinely talented."

He stated that the primary objective of the UFL was to make the Etisalat Pro League a fertile environment for talent to blossom.

Meanwhile, Al Habshi has expressed an interest in going out on loan himself next season in order to get first team football.