Fawzi signs up with Al Ain on a three-year contract

Al Ain have signed Baniyas midfielder Mohammed Fawzi on a three-year deal and the UAE international has already joined up with his new team on their training camp in Italy.

While with Baniyas last season, Mohammed Fawzi, left, battled many times with  Asamoah Gyan. This season that will only happen in training, as Fawzi has joined Gyan at Al Ain on a three-year deal. Satish Kumar / The National
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AL AIN // Al Ain have signed Baniyas midfielder Mohammed Fawzi on a three-year deal and the UAE international has already joined up with his new team on their training camp in Italy.

Apart from an undisclosed sum paid for Fawzi, Al Ain have loaned midfielders Bandar Ahbabi and Abdulsalam Mohammed to Baniyas. Ahbabi spent last season on loan at Al Dhafra.

“The deal was to benefit both parties,” said Mohammed Obaid Hammad, the Al Ain team manager.

"We released both Bandar and Abdulsalam so that they get the opportunity to play in the Arabian Gulf League instead of spending their time with us on the bench. They definitely belong to us and we expect them to be back after the loan period.

“We consulted the coach [Zlatko Dalic] before signing Fawzi as an important addition to the squad. He is versatile with good skills and experience and can play in many positions.”

Fawzi is Al Ain’s fourth summer arrival after the Slovakian international Miroslav Stoch, the South Korean midfielder Lee Myung-joo, and Rashid Essa, the Al Wasl midfielder who is also on a one-year loan deal.

They have also recalled Jires Kembo-Ekoko, the Congolese-born French forward, after he had a one-year loan spell at the Qatari club El Jaish.

Al Ain are preparing for the Asian Champions League quarter-finals against Saudi Arabia’s Al Ittihad, who they meet on August 19, with an away leg a week later.

apassela@thenational.ae