Dubai: Senegalese striker Ebrahima Toure is “most likely” out of Al Nasr’s plans for next season following the arrival of Brazilian forward Nilmar, according to an official at the Dubai club.
Nilmar’s two-year €3 million (Dh11.9 million) move from Porto Alegre’s Internacional was confirmed by the Blue Wave on Tuesday, rendering Toure surplus to requirements at Al Nasr, where he has scored 34 goals in 43 appearances since joining from AS Monaco in 2013.
Despite his impressive record in front of goal, which led Al Nasr to the President’s Cup and League Cup double last season, Toure, 29, had fallen foul of the club after failing to return to preseason training on time for a second successive season.
A delay in the expected transfer of Burkinabe winger Jonathan Pitroipa from Al Jazira — to replace former loanee Pablo Hernandez — had seen the door left fractionally ajar for Toure if coach Ivan Jovanovic was looking to play with two foreign forwards next season.
But an official at the club told Gulf News the Pitroipa deal will go ahead as planned, leaving no space for Toure alongside Chilean-Palestinian midfielder Luis Jimenez, Nilmar and Brazilian midfielder Renan Garcia.
“We are just waiting for Pitroipa to reach Germany, where the team are on camp, to do his medical,” said the official. “But we expect this to be finalised within the next two days, so it’s not an issue.”
Asked about Toure’s future, the official replied: “That’s for the manager to decide after we finish our camp. However, we have Garcia, Jimenez, soon we’ll have Pitroipa, and now there’s Nilmar, who is a striker, so that most likely rules Toure out for next season.”
The official had previously said of Toure in an interview with Gulf News: “The guy didn’t show up to camp, he’s posting pictures on Instagram of himself enjoying life. We don’t want that kind of mentality and ego in the squad.”
Toure has since changed the privacy settings on his Instagram account so that only authorised followers can see his updates.
Meanwhile, of Nilmar, 31, who scored eight goals in 23 appearances for Brazil between 2003 and 2011, the official sounded upbeat.
“Nilmar speaks for himself,” he said of the former Lyon, Corinthians and Villareal player who has regional experience with Qatar’s Al Rayyan and Al Jaish. “He’s played over 20 games for Brazil and had an amazing season at Inter last season. He’s a skilful player, not only in the box, but a complete forward who can dribble the ball well and has a great finish. He has a lot of good skills that will benefit Al Nasr.”
Compared to Toure, however, Nilmar hasn’t been as prolific of late, scoring just six goals in 25 appearances for Internacional last season.
