Bigger is not always better

Is bigger always better? In the case of overseas players in UAE football, the answer seems to be an emphatic no.

David Trezeguet is one of the biggest names ever to grace the game in this country, a World Cup winner with France and someone who, only last season, was playing in Spain's La Liga.

He signed for Baniyas in August amid much fanfare for a one-year contract worth a reported Dh9 million and with a view to taking the club to the next level after its second-place finish last season.

You could see the club's thinking: a big name with a cabinet full of medals and someone schooled in European methods to inspire the local youngsters, lift the standard on and off the pitch, sprinkle some stardust and maybe help provide a trophy or two along the way.

Only it hasn't worked out that way. The 34-year-old played two matches before requesting his contract be cancelled citing injury. For Trezeguet this season, read Fabio Cannavaro last term: another big name, a World-Cup winning captain with Italy and signed on a two-year deal by Al Ahli.

Same result

He managed more matches than Trezeguet, making it two-thirds of the way through the season before his knee packed in, but the result was the same for both player and club.

You can't blame the players. They probably know in their heart of hearts they are not up to another season of top-class club football in Europe but are not sure they are ready to say goodbye to the game just yet, so if they are offered the prospect of a warm climate and an extremely lucrative contract then why would you say no?

However, once they arrive it is easy to see how it can quickly become a hard slog: team-mates are not as good as those they left behind, a variable level of professionalism, and even if the mind is willing the body may no longer be so accommodating.

Although Asamoah Gyan's bizarre switch from Sunderland to Al Ain is an exception, realistically players in their prime are unlikely to put the Pro League at the top of their wish list. So on that basis, and with the lessons of Cannavaro and Trezeguet to learn, what type of overseas signing represents value for top flight clubs?

If you look at the ones who are doing well, like Mariano Donda at Al Wasl and Lucas Neill and Ricardo de Oliveira at Al Jazira, then the traits are clear: in the case of the Jazira duo they are or have been internationals, yes, but also still fit enough to perform, with goals to achieve, good trainers and self-motivated enough to succeed.

Picking wisely

Even those clubs without the funds to splash out on a Trezeguet or even a Neill or a De Oliveira can pick wisely, as Ajman's recruitment of Ebrahima Toure proves. The 25 year-old from Senegal, with 10 goals already this season, has been a revelation after seven years in Moroccan and Iranian club football. Before he arrived it was a case of "Ebrahima who?" Now, if Ajman retain their top flight status then his signing could be the deal of the year.

Of course, as Al Wasl have proved this season, there can be more to overseas signings than star players. Their recruitment of Diego Maradona as coach has been a massive coup.

But perhaps just as important, and with far less fanfare, has been Al Wasl's summer acquisition of former Barcelona technical director Albert Benaiges as academy director. If all clubs adopted the same long-term thinking and spent on the future rather than the present, then high-cost, low-return big-name signings might not be necessary. Am I dreaming? I hope not.