Arabian Gulf League runners-up Al Wahda have gained an injection of goals into their side with the promising addition of Al Ahli Jeddah winger Leonardo on a two-year deal.
The Clarets have chosen a patient approach to filling the final spot in their four-player foreign quota after they declined to renew Hungary wide man Balazs Dzsudzsak’s deal at the end of 2017/18.
Links to fellow Brazilian Luisinho of Al Faisaly ebbed away after a disappointing performance in the 2018 King Cup final, while Santos playmaker Serginho ended up signing for J1 League runners-up Kashima Antlers.
Leonardo, 26, represents an addition of genuine quality even though he is a free agent.
The former Al Ain target scored 11 goals in 23 run-outs after a €4 million (Dh17m) move to King Abdullah Sports City in August 2017, following on from productive spells at the likes of Partizan Belgrade and Anzhi Makhachkala.
البرازيلي ليوناردو دا سيلفا وحداوي لموسمين ، بعد اجتياز الفحص الطبي وتوقيع العقد ، مع تمنياتنا له بالتوفيق والنجاح وأن يكون إضافة للعنابي وملبياً لطموحات جماهيره .#WHDFC pic.twitter.com/JVMA8gxDGp
— Al Wahda FC الوحدة (@AlWahdaFCC) August 6, 2018
“The Brazilian Leonardo has become a Wahawi (Wahda fan) for two seasons, after passing the medical examination and signing the contract,” Wahda tweeted on Monday. “We wish him success.”
The UAE represents the eighth country that Leonardo has played in. The early stages of his career were spent in the youth system at Belgium’s Beerschot and Cyprus’ Enosis Neon Paralimni.
Switches to Eastern Europe with Ukraine’s Metalurh Donetsk, Azerbaijan’s Gabala and Russia’s Anzhi followed, prior to an excellent spell in Serbia with Partizan.
There, he lifted the 2016/17 Serbian SuperLiga and Serbian Cup double. He was also the top flight’s joint-leading marksman with 24 goals.
Wahda’s strong foreign contingent already contains the retained South Korea centre-back Rim Chang-woo, Moroccan winger Mourad Batna and Argentine centre forward Sebastian Tagliabue – the AGL’s all-time foreign top scorer with 110 strikes in 112 matches.
Coach Laurentiu Reghecampf will now be expected to improve on a campaign that also saw victories in the 2017/18 Arabian Gulf Cup and Arabian Gulf Super Cup.
