Contrary to an announcement earlier in the week, Al Ain have not signed the former France and Arsenal forward Jeremie Aliadiere.
Sultan Rashid, an assistant manager with the Pro League club, last night said Al Ain were interested in Aliadiere but that he did not pass a medical and was not offered a contract.
"The doctor gave him an MRI and said he has an injury, a big problem," Rashid said. "We need players who are 100 per cent. He is a very good player, but like any other club in the world we need him healthy."
The club's website reported on Sunday that Aliadiere had joined the team.
Aliadiere, 27, told The Daily Mail that it was his decision not to join Al Ain. "I have turned them down as I was disappointed with the way they treated me while I was there," he said, adding that the club were "unprofessional" in their dealings with him.
The player has been out of contract since June, after his third season at the English club Middlesbrough, where he scored 11 goals in 74 games.
The Frenchman was signed by Arsenal in 2001 at the age of 16, but struggled to make the first team and joined Middlesbrough in 2007.
Al Ain had intended for Aliadiere to become the club's third foreign player, replacing Milovan Mirosevic, the Chilean midfielder whom the club were unable to sign after acquiring his rights during the January transfer window.
Al Ain, who travel to Indonesia today for an Asian Champions League qualifying match on Saturday with Sriwijaya of Palembang, have struggled to sign foreigners this season after the departures last summer of the Chilean Jorge Valdivia and the Brazilian Marcio Emerson.
