Al AIN // Stung by accusations from the former Arsenal prodigy Jeremie Aliadiere of shabby treatment and "unprofessionalism", the Pro League side Al Ain fired back yesterday at a player they described as damaged goods.
"We prefer not to discuss these matters publicly but now he has pushed us and we feel betrayed," Faouzi Bediri, the football administration director at the club, said.
Aliadiere, 27, a French forward who signed with Arsenal at age 16, last week told the Daily Mail he had turned down Al Ain "as I was disappointed at the way I was treated". He added: "I feel they have been very unprofessional in their conduct and I have not signed a contract, as stated on their website."
Bediri, however, described a no-expenses-spared recruitment process that foundered only when Aliadiere failed a club medical.
He said Al Ain bought business-class airline tickets from London for Aliadiere and his agent, put them up at the Hilton Hotel, gave Aliadiere two gift bags that included a watch valued at Dh11,000 for his wife and agreed to a US$550,000 (Dh2 million) contract for six months - on the condition that he passed a check-up.
Bediri said an examination by Dr Mustafa Hamid Bashir revealed "a tear of the left posterior cruciate [ligament] with some laxity". Bediri also described a January report from Dr Phil Horner of the Premier League side Blackburn Rovers that revealed problems with Aliadiere's left patellar tendon.
Bediri said that Thomas Brookes, Aliadiere's agent, countered by offering to have his client sign for half the money in the original contract, with the other half to be paid if the player's knee held up.
Bediri said the club declined "because one wrong movement and his knee could collapse. I would be fired if I signed such a player".
Amal Mir, the marketing and corporate communications director at the club, said Al Ain were eager to build a campaign around a player who had played for four Premier League sides. Added Bediri: "We really wanted him to play for us, but we needed him to play in three days, not in four or five months."
Club officials were upset when the comments were made, and more so when they were translated into Arabic and widely circulated.
Brookes, the head of football for the England-based International Sports Management, said yesterday he was not familiar with the statements attributed to the player and could not comment on them.
Bediri said the club may now be more circumspect in pursuing players from the Premier League. "I don't know if they're spoiled. We know the players are not Einstein or Nobel Prize winners, but there is common sense. Maybe money makes them crazy."
Aliadiere has been out of contract since June, when Middlesbrough released him. He had played 78 games and scored 11 goals for the Teesside club in three seasons, two of them in the Premier League.
Al Ain announced on their website on February 13 that Aliadiere had been signed. Mir said the story should have included the proviso "if he passes his medical".
Aliadiere did no lasting damage to the club, Bediri said. "In the football world people know Al Ain as the best club in the country."
poberjuerge@thenational.ae
Sun jukebox
Rufus Thomas, Bear Cat (The Answer to Hound Dog) (1953)
This rip-off of Leiber/Stoller’s early rock stomper brought a lawsuit against Phillips and necessitated Presley’s premature sale to RCA.
Elvis Presley, Mystery Train (1955)
The B-side of Presley’s final single for Sun bops with a drummer-less groove.
Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two, Folsom Prison Blues (1955)
Originally recorded for Sun, Cash’s signature tune was performed for inmates of the titular prison 13 years later.
Carl Perkins, Blue Suede Shoes (1956)
Within a month of Sun’s February release Elvis had his version out on RCA.
Roy Orbison, Ooby Dooby (1956)
An essential piece of irreverent juvenilia from Orbison.
Jerry Lee Lewis, Great Balls of Fire (1957)
Lee’s trademark anthem is one of the era’s best-remembered – and best-selling – songs.
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
RESULT
Norway 1 Spain 1
Norway: King (90 4')
Spain: Niguez (47')
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
hall of shame
SUNDERLAND 2002-03
No one has ended a Premier League season quite like Sunderland. They lost each of their final 15 games, taking no points after January. They ended up with 19 in total, sacking managers Peter Reid and Howard Wilkinson and losing 3-1 to Charlton when they scored three own goals in eight minutes.
SUNDERLAND 2005-06
Until Derby came along, Sunderland’s total of 15 points was the Premier League’s record low. They made it until May and their final home game before winning at the Stadium of Light while they lost a joint record 29 of their 38 league games.
HUDDERSFIELD 2018-19
Joined Derby as the only team to be relegated in March. No striker scored until January, while only two players got more assists than goalkeeper Jonas Lossl. The mid-season appointment Jan Siewert was to end his time as Huddersfield manager with a 5.3 per cent win rate.
ASTON VILLA 2015-16
Perhaps the most inexplicably bad season, considering they signed Idrissa Gueye and Adama Traore and still only got 17 points. Villa won their first league game, but none of the next 19. They ended an abominable campaign by taking one point from the last 39 available.
FULHAM 2018-19
Terrible in different ways. Fulham’s total of 26 points is not among the lowest ever but they contrived to get relegated after spending over £100 million (Dh457m) in the transfer market. Much of it went on defenders but they only kept two clean sheets in their first 33 games.
LA LIGA: Sporting Gijon, 13 points in 1997-98.
BUNDESLIGA: Tasmania Berlin, 10 points in 1965-66
MORE ON THE US DEMOCRATIC PRIMARIES
MATCH INFO
Alaves 1 (Perez 65' pen)
Real Madrid 2 (Ramos 52', Carvajal 69')
MWTC info
Tickets to the MWTC range from Dh100 and can be purchased from www.ticketmaster.ae or by calling 800 86 823 from within the UAE or 971 4 366 2289 from outside the country and all Virgin Megastores. Fans looking to attend all three days of the MWTC can avail of a special 20 percent discount on ticket prices.
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The Bio
Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
Company%20Profile
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