Al Ahli remain in the hunt for Brazil star

Posted Wednesday, July 01, 2015 by Foxsports.com

Al Ahli chairman Abdullah Saeed Al Naboodah maintains that the Red Knights will sign Brazilian international striker Luiz Adriano from Shakhtar Donestsk.

Al Naboodah tweeted last week that a fee for the prolific 28-year-old had been agreed with the Ukrainian side, but on Sunday Shakhtar coach said that the striker rejected an offer from the Dubai club after he heard Italian giants AC Milan were interested in signing him.

"The agreement with Shakhtar club is true and there was an agreement with the player before three weeks, but things changed almost a week ago. But we hope that things will again change in favour of Al Ahli," Al Naboodah told Dubai Sports.

"At the end of the day these agreements are governed by figures, and to reach the amount that will be acceptable for both parties. So the delay is mainly about money and in the coming days we hope it will become clearer."

Al Naboodah also put his weight behind under-fire coach Cosmin Olaroiu, who oversaw a disappointing 2015 campaign in which the 2014 champions failed to win a single trophy.
"Many people ask me about how I deal with Cosmin... I say Cosmin has a lovely character and very good and successful coach," he continued.

"Sure, we are fully confident of his work and his thinking, and that's why we offered to renew his contract and continue with the team.

"And believe me, every successful coach sometimes takes surprising actions, but Cosmin's discipline is excellent and his dealings with players is excellent too."

Al Naboodah also put his weight behind under-fire coach Cosmin Olaroiu, who oversaw a disappointing 2015 campaign in which the 2014 champions failed to win a single trophy.

"Many people ask me about how I deal with Cosmin... I say Cosmin has a lovely character and very good and successful coach," he continued.

"Sure, we are fully confident of his work and his thinking, and that's why we offered to renew his contract and continue with the team.

"And believe me, every successful coach sometimes takes surprising actions, but Cosmin's discipline is excellent and his dealings with players is excellent too."