Ibrahima Toure could follow his former Al Nasr teammate Brett Holman to the Ras Al Khaimah club Emirates following the arrival of Brazilian Nilmar at the Al Maktoum Stadium.
Toure, 29, played a key role in Nasr ending their 26-year wait for a domestic trophy, scoring 18 goals in a season which saw them win the Arabian Gulf Cup and President’s Cup double last season. Only Al Jazira’s Mirko Vucinic scored more league goals, 25.
The Senegalese striker struck an 89th-minute winner in the President’s Cup quarter-final to send the defending champions Al Ain out of the tournament and also scored a crucial penalty as Nasr beat Al Ahli in the final.
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Toure’s disciplinary record, however, has been an irritant for the club officials, who were looking for a replacement at the start of last season following his red card in the opening league match of the season for an attack on Baniyas’s Mohammed Jaber that earned him a four-match suspension.
To further irk Nasr officials, Toure left Dubai just before the team started assembling for their pre-season preparations. The player is yet to report for duty and the club management claim they do not know his whereabouts.
Emirates, however, do not seem worried about Toure’s disciplinary record and have opened talks with Nasr, knowing the Senegalese is one of the best finishers in the league.
Ahmed Samahan, the deputy chairman of Emirates, said the club will take their time in making a decision.
“It is easy to sign a foreign player, pay three or four millions euros, and then dispense with him three or four months later because he has not been successful,” he said. “But we do not want to waste the club’s money on a bad deal, so we are not going to be rushed.”
Emirates still have a vacant foreign player’s slot to fill after deciding to retain only one of their four overseas players from last season: Moroccan defender Issam Erraki. They have signed ex-Australia and Nasr midfielder Holman as the Asian player and have brought in Brazilian winger Rodrigo Pimpao from Botafogo.
arizvi@thenational.ae
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