Dubai: In an unusual development, Iranian striker Farhad Majidi jumped ship from Al Nasr Club to Al Ahli yesterday and played his first match against former club Al Wasl last night at Rashid stadium.

Farhad, who played last season with Al Ahli, signed a two-year contract with Al Nasr last summer, but he only served out five months before returning to Al Ahli yesterday.

The Iranian ace helped Al Ahli to clinch the league title last season for the first time in 25 years.

When he first came to the UAE in 2000, he played with Al Wasl and stayed with them for six years before he was transferred to Al Ahli.

Majidi's relationship with the Al Nasr coach German Rainer Holleman was reportedly not good and he criticised the coach on many occasions.

Holleman sidelined him in some matches due to the dispute between them, and the team suffered badly because of that.

Al Nasr's second Iranian player Arash Borhani did not perform well and the club sacked him last month, although his contract cost the club $1,600,000 for one season.

Unsatisfactory show

Majidi's contract cost Al Nasr $2 million for two seasons, and it was set to expire only at the end of the 2007-2008 season. Sources claimed that Farhad received 75 per cent of his first year contract ($750,000) and was going to receive the rest of his deal in the coming months had he continued with Al Nasr.

The two Iranians' performance did not satisfy the Al Nasr officials and supporters, who felt that the two strikers were capable of doing better.

However, they failed to deliver and the Al Nasr forward line was the weakest in the first division - having scored only seven goals in nine league matches.

No wonder Al Nasr are now seventh in the league table and have already lost the FA Cup semifinals to Al Jazira. In both games, Majidi and Borhani performed poorly.

Al Nasr are now looking to fill up the second second foreigner's slot.

They have two choices - a French striker or attacking Brazilian midfielder Danillo Valerio Sacramento. Both the players have been training with the team over the last few days.