Emirati players ‘may lack desire’ to play outside UAE, says Sam Allardyce

But budding stars have potential to develop in European leagues, according to West Ham manager. John McAuley reports.

Al Wahda’s Hamdan Al Kamali, left, spent six months on loan at French club Lyon on 2012. Razan Alzayani / The National
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DUBAI // Sam Allardyce says the comfortable lifestyle enjoyed by Emirati footballers may act as an obstacle to furthering their careers in Europe, although the West Ham United manager does concede it is only a matter of time before a UAE-born player eventually plies his trade abroad.

Until now, no Emirati has played a first-team match for a European side – Hamdan Al Kamali, the Al Wahda defender, spent an unsuccessful six-month loan spell at French club Lyon in 2012 – yet there is belief that several of the current senior national team side could move overseas.

Chief among those is Omar Abdulrahman, the Al Ain playmaker who last week was linked to Liverpool. The midfielder, 22, has also attracted attention from Manchester City, Arsenal and Benfica.

However, given the somewhat embryonic professional era of top-level football here, and the player contentment with life in the UAE, Allardyce feels players may lack the desire to test their talent outside of the country.

“The league’s been professional for only five years, so there’s a little way to go with getting used to being full-time professionals,” said Allardyce, who was close to joining Al Ain in 2009 when he was manager at Blackburn Rovers.

“There’s bound to be a really talented player, but it’s whether they want to come for the football and the glory, because obviously they’re so well-looked after in their own country that it would be difficult, perhaps, to break away and come and play in Europe.

“But you never know. I think somebody, somewhere down the line from the Arab states will end up in the Premier League.”

Allardyce is currently in Dubai with West Ham on a warm-weather break from the English Premier League.

jmcauley@thenational.ae