Europe calling: Asian player of the year Omar Abdulrahman must decide if he wants to answer

Omar Abdulrahman's recognition as Asian player of the year will lead to fresh calls about the possibility of taking his career to Europe. It is now up to the Al Ain and UAE star to decide if he wants to answer.

Omar Abdulrahman has constantly been linked with moves to some of Europe's biggest clubs but has so far opted to remain at Al Ain. Fazry Ismail / EPA
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“So, Omar … Europe?”

It has become a familiar theme when considering Omar Abdulrahman, UAE football’s shining light whose reputation radiated that little more at the Asian Football Confederation Awards in Abu Dhabi on Thursday night.

There, in the suitably resplendent surrounds of Emirates Palace hotel, the Al Ain playmaker was crowned Asian Player of the Year, just reward for what was a special 2016 for an extra-special talent.

The standout in the recently concluded Asian Champions League, Abdulrahman could not quite haul his side to that trophy, but he defeated Iraq’s Hammadi Ahmed and China’s Wu Lei to hold aloft the continent’s foremost individual honour.

How, then, does that impact his European ambitions, if at all? In a recent interview with the AFC’s official magazine, Abdulrahman was asked about a potential move abroad, but responded, rather cryptically, that first he had a “specific target” to achieve with Al Ain.

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What that represents is open to conjecture, but there is a distinct feeling that the Asian Champions League remains one, remains the one. Abdulrahman was close last week, closer than he has ever been, but he and Al Ain fell short against South Korea's Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, losing the final 3-2 on aggregate. Fate sealed, Abdulrahman departed the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium pitch in tears.

Thursday night’s award, a first for Abdulrahman and a second successive for an Emirati, will have dulled the pain only somewhat, but it also raises the subject of the midfielder’s future once more. In fact, it attains a fresh bent.

Abdulrahman is now officially Asia’s finest footballer: is it time for him to leave the continent and forge a new path in Europe? As is well documented, there has been interest in the past, with Arsenal, Hamburg, Valencia and Benfica among his reported admirers.

However, Abdulrahman has never bitten, for whatever reason never agreed to take that bold step.

He has always remained loyal to Al Ain and to UAE football. Some say why would he go elsewhere?

He is a bona fide superstar here, cherished and celebrated in equal measure. For now, at least, he is content where he is, close to his family, comfortable in his environment and in his own skin.

Yet, at 25, there will soon come a time when he must decide to stick or twist.

Abdulrahman has often spoken of a desire to test himself in Europe, to challenge his talent and his temperament in one of football’s major leagues.

Maintain his 2016 form, and foreign clubs will continue to call. His new status only amplifies the appeal.

Most probably, another crack at the Champions League with Al Ain will constitute the way forward through 2017.

But after that, surely Abdulrahman must choose whether he should stay or he should go. If he remains, there will always be the sense of a talent unfulfilled, no matter how many individual and collective accolades come his way.

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