Ahmed Khalil’s historic coronation as 2015 AFC Player of the Year has seen him get the last laugh on critics who lambasted him last term, according to proud Al Ahli boss Cosmin Olaroiu.
Khalil, 24, beat compatriot Omar Abdulrahman and China’s Zheng Zhi on Sunday to become the UAE’s first-ever recipient of the continent’s premier individual prize.
This marked a remarkable turnaround from the start of the year, the once goal-shy striker and his then struggling club rising from a miserable Arabian Gulf League title defence in 2014-15 to a slender AFC Champions League final defeat to Guangzhou Evergrande last month.
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“Last year, we only had Khalil and a lot of specialists killed us,” said Olaroiu. “They said ‘why did Al Ahli not bring in a striker, Khalil is no good’.
“Some people said we needed another striker. Nobody believed in Khalil, but now he is the best player in Asia. Everything is possible – this is an example.”
Ahli went from champions to a distant seventh-spot last season, a chronic lack of goals key. A failure to buy a top-line striker in the winter transfer window was roundly criticised at the time.
But in between, Khalil became the 2015 ACL’s second-top scorer with six goals and is currently in the same postion during the ongoing AFC’s qualification process for the 2018 World Cup with 10 strikes in six matches.
The Sharjah-born star was presented with the Player of the Year prize before Monday night’s 4-1 thrashing of Al Jazira to roaring
acclaim at Rashid Stadium.
Olaroiu hailed his charge’s achievement and believed it had given the world “a different image” of Emirati football.
— النـــادي الاهــــلي (@AlAhliClub) November 30, 2015
He said: “It is a special moment for Emirates football and Ahmed Khalil.
“I am very happy for Khalil after all the effort he has exerted in the past. In the recent period, a lot of positive things have happened for him.
“We [UAE football] have made a lot of steps in front. Now, Emirates football has a different image in everyone’s mind.
“People now have have to live in hope that one day they will be in the same positon as Ahmed Khalil or make the final of the AFC Champions League [like Ahli].
“They have to get more confidence and trust and keep working hard.”
Khalil and his Red Knights team-mates sit second in the AGL table, a point behind leaders Al Ain with two games in hand.
The sides meet in a tantalising clash at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium on Saturday.
