Khalid Eissa joins Al Ain from Al Jazira

Abu Dhabi: UAE goalkeeper Khalid Eisa is on his way from Al Jazira to Al Ain.

The big move for Al Jazira’s reserve stopper follows in the wake of the Abu Dhabi club’s captain Ebrahim Diaky making the same move in exchange for Yaqoob Al Housani and defender Mussalam Fayez.

Eisa, who was the understudy of Ali Khaseef for both club and country, has shown great capabilities since his first season with the Al Jazira first team. He was surprisingly selected for the national team two years ago after playing only a handful of matches, and played for the country’s Olympics team in the qualifiers for the 2012 London Games, but was kept on the bench at the Olympics because Khaseef was named as one of the three allowed over-23 players.

The Al Jazira management, headed by Shaikh Mohammad Bin Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the club’s Football Company, met with the player on Thursday and gave him the green light to join Al Ain after the keeper explained that he needs to play regularly to improve. He only had one month remaining on his Al Jazira contract.

Al Jazira, meanwhile, recalled another keeper, Khalid Al Sinani, who was on loan to Al Dhafra last season, to be Khaseef back-up in the new Arab Gulf League season.