After flirting with Blackburn Rover’s Argentine midfielder Mauro Formica, Bani Yas finally secured Munoz who will lead the line next season alongside Andre Senghor, Abdulsalam Al Mukhaini and Christian Wilhelmsson.
“We are very happy to have finally signed Carlos Munoz,” club board member Mubarak Awad told Sport360°. “The good thing is that he has been our first option for a long time. We had our eyes on him for a long time but things went quite slowly, things got in the way between the two clubs but in the end we got the man we wanted.”
A prolific striker at club level in Chile, Munoz will replace Egyptian legend Mohammad Abou Treika after the 34-year-old returned to Al Ahly following his loan spell in Al Shamkha last season.
Munoz has scored at nearly a goal every other game in his short career with Santiago Wanderers and Colo-Colo while netting twice in eight games for the Chilean national team. But it is his young age as much as his ability that has attracted the top brass.
“We need someone, whoever they are, to come to the club and give everything they have,” said Awad. “We don’t want them to have careers that are coming to an end, where we are their last club.
“I think that history for most of the Emirates and Gulf clubs, they are bring in players – who, yes, are famous and good – but don’t have the chance to give more than what they have given before.
“The player, if he is 30 or 31 years old, do you think he can give as much now as he could when he was 27? When they are young they can give you more, and after three or four years they can still go to another club and be more than what they were with us.”
Partnership
The transfer will unlikely be Bani Yas’ last dealing with Colo-Colo. Awad spoke of how refreshing it was to do business with the Chilean giants and how he hopes the two clubs can become official affiliates in the future.
“We have to thank the cooperation of Munoz’s club, Colo Colo. They were very good to us, and now this might start a big future between the two clubs, a cooperation together,” said Awad.
“We can work together in the future, we would like to look into developing a plan where we can send players to them and they can send players to us, that sort of idea. We haven’t talked about it much but it is very welcome, we are opening the file.”
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