UAE international defender Mohanad Salem looks set to leave Al Ain, with capital rivals Al Jazira and Bani Yas competing to secure his signing.
Salem, 29, has remained in the Emirates for negotiations while his team-mates have endured a weather-disrupted pre-season tour abroad.
Jazira are hot favourites to snap up the versatile defender, with his brother Mohammed currently employed by the Pride of Abu Dhabi as first-team manager.
The move would come as a surprise, with Salem starting 23 of Al Ain’s 26 Arabian Gulf League fixtures last term.
Team supervisor Mohammed Obeid Hammad insisted they are happy to keep the player if no agreement can be reached.
He said: “Mohanad is still associated with Al Ain and there are several offers for the player, but he soon will join the camp if nothing has developed during the negotiations.”
Meanwhile, Zlatko Dalic’s side were forced to make a hasty detour to Italy yesterday after thunderstorms washed out their training camp in Turkey.
The Boss had intended to practice in Erzurum from July 4-19, as their preparations for August’s AFC Champions League quarter-final tie with Al Ittihad continued. But unseasonally poor weather in the eastern part of the country have flooded the pitches.
“The period of the camp is short, and we are working to get out with the desired results,” Hammad said. “The rainfall affected the exercising fields in the region, because the pitch is located on a slope, and the administration decided to move the camp to Italy.
“We hope that the change is in the interest of the team because the time factor is important to us.”
Loan signing Miroslav Stoch passed a medical examination on Friday morning in Istanbul, with brothers Khalid and Mohammed Abdulrahman joining him in Italy after signing three-year contract extensions.
Stoch’s fellow new boy, South Korean midfielder Lee Myung-Joo, is also with the team in Europe.
