Dubai: Brazilian striker Nilmar has ruled out a move to Dubai’s Al Nasr by pledging his future to his current club Internacional.
The 31-year-old forward had been the subject of a €3.5 million (Dh14.2 million) bid from the UAE League Cup and President’s Cup holders. But the Brazilian press has quoted the former Lyon, Corinthians and Villareal marksman as being uninterested in a return to the Middle East, where he played for Qatar’s Al Rayyan and Al Jaish between 2012 and 2014.
“I have not received any offers from anyone,” he said. “I have been in this profession for 12-13 years and, every six months, I have seen such stories, attributing rumours. But I have always made it clear that I chose to come to this club and I am happy here.
“I have signed a three-year deal but I wish I had signed for four years,” he added of his current contract, which expires in 2017.
“This club is my home and I want to stay. No amount of money can make me leave this club. I have had a very good career financially. If I leave it’s because the [club] president has made that decision. So I have to keep doing my job to make sure the president does not sell me.”
Nilmar was targeted as a replacement for wayward forward Ebrahima Toure at Al Nasr, after the Senegalese striker failed to return to pre-season training on time for a second successive summer.
The Blue Wave are still on course to secure the loan signing of Burkina Faso winger Jonathan Pitroipa from Al Jazira within the coming days. Pitroipa would join Chilean-Palestinian midfielder Luis Jimenez and retained Brazilian midfielder Renan Garcia.
But one slot remains if the club are set on ousting Toure.
