Al Wahda sign Saudi league’s top goalscorer Tagliabue

12:36 04/12/2013
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  • Al Wahda hope Sebastian Tagliabue can fire them to a top-four finish next season, although AFC Champions League football is not a priority for the Abu Dhabi club.

    Wahda beat off competition from Pro League rivals Bani Yas to sign the former Al Shabab Riyadh stri-ker on a three-year contract, with an option for an extra two, subject to a medical in London next week.

    Tagliabue, 28, scored 19 goals in the Zain Professional League last season making him Saudi Arabia’s top scorer, while he has also netted four times in eight appearances in Asia this year.

    Asked what attracted the club to Tagliabue, board member Areef Hamad Al Awani said: “His goalscoring quality, plus he can dribble very well and can score left or right [footed] or by his head.”

    Tagliabue will hope to follow in the footsteps of Jose Sand who was a prolific goalscorer during his two-year stay in the UAE with Al Ain, scoring 59 goals in just 63 games.

    Goalscoring was a problem for Wahda last season with only Papa Waigo making double figures in the league. But with the acquisition of Tagliabue and former Montpellier midfielder Marco Estrada it is hoped the four-time UAE champions can put two disappointing campaigns behind them.

    “We hope not to repeat the last two seasons,” he added. “We would like to have a title but we know it is not like before, you cannot jump direct to be a champion. We will play to be in the top four and we will wait to see what happens with the other clubs.

    “But for sure with our local quality we can grab a title, but at the same time we don’t want to put it as a matter of success or failure. We reach to be one of the top three or four. That will be success for us.”

    And with a decision on how many teams the UAE will have in the Champions League from 2014 to be made in November, Al Awani insisted Asia was not on the club’s radar.

    “That is something that is not in our hands, so we don’t want to think about it at all,” he said. “The last two years we have not been the strong team that we used to be. We want to go back to being the strong team that the Al Wahda fans know.”

    Al Awani also revealed that key to the signings of both Tagliabue and Estrada was the pair’s settled lives off the pitch. “We tried to see the private life of each player and we found that they had peaceful lives with their families,” he said. “Some players will bring you headaches because you can’t control their private lives.”

    Meanwhile, Wahda will take their time before deciding whether to bring in a third foreign signing. The club currently have four foreign players, with centre-back Dino Djulbic and striker Eric Mouloungui already at the Al Nahyan Stadium.

    They are open to offers for Mouloungui, who spent the last half of the season on loan in Poland but will wait until new coach Karel Jarolim’s arrival next month.

    Wahda do have back-up options with negotiations for an Ecuadorian midfielder ongoing, but Al Awani said the club are in no rush. “We do not need to hurry,” he revealed.

    READ MORE:

    New boy Estrada will lead Al Wahda into new era

     

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