Amer Abdulrahman and Al Ain: A seamless fit and a sign of ambition from player and club

John McAuley provides his thoughts on Al Ain's deal for UAE and Baniyas midfielder Amer Abdulrahman.

Amer Abdulrahman, centre, has moved to Al Ain on a three year contract, and will bolster their squad ahead of the Asian Champions League quarter-final. Courtesy UAE FA

Amer Abdulrahman: teenage prodigy, midfield metronome, member of the UAE’s so-called ‘Golden Generation’ and now, finally, Al Ain player.

The long-time Baniyas midfielder has at last plotted his path to what should be a guaranteed big-time contributor to Al Ain, his protracted transfer from the Abu Dhabi club confirmed Saturday. It marks a belated end to one of the most prolonged courtships in UAE football.

Abdulrahman has long been linked with the country’s top-tier clubs — Al Ain, Al Jazira, Al Ahli — but the Garden City side eventually got their man. Undoubtedly, they have secured one of the last available pre-eminent national team players.

Outside of the huge collection of UAE internationals at Ahli, Jazira’s Ali Mabkhout is perhaps the only other Emirati to match Abdulrahman in rank and reputation, a similarly platinum player among that gilded crop. So Abdulrahman’s signing serves a dual function: significantly strengthening Al Ain’s squad while signalling their intent for a potentially defining season ahead.

Later this summer, Al Ain contest the quarter-finals of the Asian Champions League, a two-legged encounter with Uzbekistan’s Lokomotiv. In late September, they begin their bid to retain the Arabian Gulf League having surrendered it to Ahli last season. With Abdulrahman on board, that twin quest feels infinitely more achievable.

Possessing poise, precision in his passing and genuine, undeniable pedigree, Abdulrahman bolsters an already talented team, able to slip seamlessly into the side, a crucial factor considering the continental campaign resumes in seven-and-a-half weeks. There will be no notable need for adaptation, no slow assimilation of an expensive foreign import or no forced familiarisation, for the majority, with a fresh bunch of teammates.

Abdulrahman is a close companion of his namesake Omar Abdulrahman — a key element in him joining Al Ain — and an international colleague of at least six other Al Ain first-team players. He recognises their capabilities; they realise his.

What is more, Amer Abdulrahman is a marquee name at a time when Al Ain needed one, a substantial upgrade on Yaser Matar, who arrived earlier this year when the club required greater reinforcement. Back then, Ahli recruited Khamis Esmail to seemingly push the UAE’s two premier sides in altogether different directions. Now, though, Al Ain have steered back on course.

Admittedly, there have been question marks regarding Abdulrahman’s fitness. He has previously missed chunks of campaigns at Baniyas, but yet usually returned to excel. In 2010/11, Abdulrahman overcame injury to play an integral role in Baniyas’ runner-up finish in the league. The following season, he rebounded from the death of friend and teammate Theyab Awana, and then injury again, to manoeuvre Baniyas away from relegation and into the President’s Cup final and into the last 16 of the Champions League. He has previously shown remarkable resolve; the grand stage will not faze him.

Abdulrahman has shone on the international scene at various age-group tournaments, making such an impression at the 2009 Fifa Under 20 World Cup that World Soccer magazine christened him “The Zidane of the UAE”. The distinction, though, never sat well with its incumbent: growing up, Abdulrahman idolised Zinedine Zidane, while it does not surprise that he counts among his favourite players both Andrea Pirlo and Xavi. Like him, they are considered pass masters.

Above all else, that attribute, that unquantifiable ability to “see the bigger picture” when on the pitch, clinched Abdulrahman the MVP award at the 2010 U23 Gulf Cup, when he was twice voted man of the match from four appearances and where he assisted three of Ahmed Khalil’s five goals.

Three years later, Abdulrahman provided the ball for Ahli’s Ismail Al Hammadi to decide the senior Gulf Cup final, only the second time the UAE has captured the regional title. More recently, he was a regular in last year’s march to bronze at the Asian Cup in Australia.

If it feels like Abdulrahman, 27 on Sunday, has since stagnated at Baniyas, then the transfer to Al Ain promises to spark one of the country’s finest midfield talents. There is an obvious synergy to the deal: Al Ain need Abdulrahman as much as Abdulrahman needs Al Ain. It should be mutually beneficial.

Finally, after all the courtship and conjecture, Abdulrahman has a loftier platform on which to perform.

Also from McAuley: Amer joins Omar at Al Ain on three-year deal

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