‘Five trophies and some people are not happy with this’: Cosmin Olaroiu fuels Al Ahli exit talk

Cosmin Olaroiu refused to deny speculation he is leaving Al Ahli, although he did intimate that there exists a problem between him and the club.

Cosmin Olaroiu made his initial comments hinting at leaving Al Ahli after the draw against Baniyas last week. Courtesy Asian Football Confederation

DUBAI // Cosmin Olaroiu refused on Friday to deny speculation he is leaving Al Ahli, although he did intimate that there exists a problem between him and the club.

The Romanian’s position at the newly crowned Arabian Gulf League champions has been subject of conjecture this past week after comments he made following the league draw against Baniyas on April 29.

Olaroiu, who joined Ahli in 2013, had just guided his side to a second top-flight crown in three seasons, but suggested post-match that his time at the Rashid Stadium was coming to an end.

Asked Friday to clarify his remarks, Olaroiu remained vague, preferring instead to concentrate on Ahli’s quest later this month to add the President’s Cup to their league triumph.

“Who cares? Nobody cares, believe me,” he said. “Everyone judges what I say and what I will do, but doesn’t another possibility exist? The club doesn’t want to continue with me, doesn’t this possibility exist also? Why do you not also take this in consideration?​

“Now we have to finish the season and after we will see. In this moment the most important thing is not Cosmin, it’s the President’s Cup.”

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Previously at Al Ain, Olaroiu has a hugely impressive CV since coming to the UAE in 2010, winning four league titles, three Super Cups and the Arabian Gulf Cup. During his time with Ahli he has also twice lost the President’s Cup final and November’s Asian Champions League showpiece.

His switch to Ahli was contentious, with Olaroiu highlighting Friday that his UAE career has been blighted by controversy. He referenced the fact he has been sent off numerous times at Ahli and seemed to lament the amount of time his Emirati players spend training with the UAE national team.

However, Olaroiu insisted he has not spoken to potential suitors, despite speculation linking him to Al Jazira, the Romanian national team and the Chinese Super League. His contract with Ahli runs until 2018.

“I heard I have offers to go I don’t know where,” he said. “Maybe I have, but I don’t know. I swear that I’ve never talked with somebody and never think about going to another team. I never consider this.

“Problems exist everywhere; I prefer to keep them to myself. Some people are not satisfied with the performance we have, that’s why I said what can we do? I have five trophies and made four finals — now we have one more and I hope to win the sixth. I know and I hear that some people are not very happy with this.

“Maybe I’m crazy, maybe I’m over-zealous. But everything I do is aimed at doing the best job possible so I can help the players and ultimately help them win. But I will never be somebody’s toy and I won’t talk about this anymore.”

Asked why he chose last week to vent, Olaroiu replied: “I had just won the league, do you expect me to speak before winning the league? I had to guarantee the win before speaking. Once I’d reached the main goal, I felt the situation prompted me to say something.

“I never said I was going to resign. Of course, the club can go and find another coach, there are many possibilities in the world of football. What I can say is that there are a lot of people who are not very happy with our results and in football there are many possibilities.”​

Sitting alongside Olaroiu, Ahli midfielder Humaid Abbas said the squad have been impacted by the speculation.

“Of course it affects us, because we have worked for three years with him and we won five trophies and made the final of the Champions League,” Abbas said. “So if we lose a coach who has brought us all these championships then of course we lose a lot and are affected. We don’t just consider him a coach, we consider him a father to us.”​

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