DUBAI // Al Wasl are confident they will retain their entire foreign contingent for the 2015/16 season, although the club have provisions in place should that change.
Wasl, seven-time UAE champions, have already secured Fabio Lima for another 12 months, with the Atletico Goianiense playmaker set to fulfill the two-year loan agreement he signed last summer.
Brazilian-born, Lima qualifies as Wasl’s Asian player since he obtained Uzbekistan nationality in September.
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Meanwhile, the futures of Brazilian forwards Caio and Ederson, and Portuguese playmaker Hugo Viana, are unresolved. Caio and Ederson arrived on season-long loans last year from Internacional and Atletico Paranaense, respectively, and talks are ongoing to extend their stay.
Earlier this month, Caio spoke about making permanent his move from Internacional. In contrast, Ederson has been heavily linked with a return to his parent club, yet Wasl anticipate he will continue at the club.
Last season, the duo formed a potent attacking trip alongside Lima, scoring 46 of Wasl’s 53 Arabian Gulf League goals to help seal sixth place – the club’s highest finish since 2010.
Asked about the possibility of Ederson leaving, Wasl’s team manager, Majed Obaidallah, said: “It’s all rumours. Nothing is guaranteed in football – until the last moment anything can happen – but we’re trying. It’s step-by-step. I can’t confirm anything yet, but we’re hopeful.”
Wasl are closest to guaranteeing Viana for another season following his shortened 2014/15 campaign. Signed from Al Ahli on transfer deadline-day last October, a dispute with the Football Association meant the midfielder did not make his league debut until February 4.
However, Viana became an integral member of the side, and his experience is viewed as key to the club’s progression. He returned to Dubai yesterday to begin putting the finishing touches on a new deal.
“We’re going to give him an offer,” Obaidallah said. “Both of us are in agreement that we want him to stay and he wants to stay with us. I don’t think there is a problem there. You could say it’s 90 or 99 per cent done.
“We want all four to continue. Fabio already has a contract with us for one more year, and the others we are trying to secure.”
Wasl would like to have each set of negotiations settled as soon as possible, since they plan to hold a training camp in the Netherlands this summer. The dates are yet to be decided.
Also, given that the new league season begins in mid-August, there is added incentive to conclude all business early.
Should Wasl encounter any problems in finalising the agreements, they have already identified potential replacements. Alejandro Gomez, the Atalanta striker and a compatriot of Wasl’s Argentine coach Gabriel Calderon, has been cited as a reported target.
“We’re just focusing on our players,” Obaidallah said. “But of course, there are alternatives if anything happens.”
jmacauley@thenational.ae
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