ABU DHABI // Al Wahda last night signed the Jordan international, Anas Bani Yaseen on a two-year deal.
The 23 year old is the first Jordanian to be signed by a Pro League club and he decided to move to the Abu Dhabi club ahead of offers from Al Nasr of Saudi Arabia and Al Khor of Qatar.
"The offer from Qatar was financially better but I chose to join Wahda because I want to play for a big team and at a good level," Bani Yaseen said after signing his contract last night.
"I have been following the Pro League and am very familiar with the clubs and the players.
"Obviously I want to help Wahda to win trophies and also want to showcase the talent we have back home so more Jordanian players would be considered by Pro League clubs."
Bani Yaseen is the second foreign player to sign for Wahda after Eric Mouloungui, the Gabon international who completed his move from the French Ligue 1 club Nice last month. The Jordanian defender, who stands at 1.84metres, fills in the void left by Mohammed Shaibah, the Oman international who returns to Al Wasl after completing his one-year loan spell in the capital.
Bani Yaseen will join Wahda for pre-season training starting from July 10 but may not be available for the summer training camp in Germany as he will return for national duty when Jordan prepare for the final round qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup in which they play Australia on September 11 and Oman five days later.
Jordan were held to a 1-1 home draw against Iraq in the opening match of the qualifying campaign on June 3 and were thumped 6-0 away by Japan on Friday.
Bani Yaseen blamed their heavy defeat to Japan on the short period of time between those game and the amount of travel involved. "The players were jet lagged. We had just five days to play the away game in Japan and we didn't recover from the fatigue and adapt well to the time difference.
"For us, it is a great experience to play against the best teams in Asia. We have a point from two games so nothing is lost. We still have eight games to play, so still there is some hope.
"Personally, this experience will help me to maintain the same high level when I play for my new team Wahda."
Bani Yaseen moves from Al Qadsia where he won the Kuwait Professional League last season.
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