Napoli’s Chilean forward Eduardo Vargas has been identified as a possible replacement for outgoing Ghanaian striker Asamoah Gyan at Al Ain, according to reports in the Arabic press.
Vargas, 25, formerly of Chile’s Cobreloa and Universidad de Chile, has been on loan from Italian parent club Napoli to Brazil’s Gremio, Spain’s Valencia and England’s Queens Park Rangers (QPR) in recent seasons, and could now be subject to a similar deal with the Garden City club.
The Santiago-born forward scored four times in 21 appearances on loan to QPR last season and Napoli reportedly asked $7.1 million (Dh26.07 million) for the player when Arsenal enquired as to his services before Chile’s Copa America penalty shootout win over Argentina earlier this week. The Italian side paid $4.2 million for the player back in 2012.
Another name doing the rounds is 28-year-old Nigerian striker Emmanuel Emenike, who is currently with Turkey’s Fenerbahce, but has previously played for Turkey’s Karabukspor and Russia’s Spartak Moscow.
Emenike, who recently embraced Islam, scored four goals in 27 appearances for Fenerbahce last season, and cost the club €13 million (Dh52.71 million) when he joined the club for his second stint back in 2013.
Arabian Gulf League champions Al Ain will have the funds available having accepted a €20 million bid from Chinese side Shanghai SIPG for Gyan.
If the deal goes through, that would be the highest fee ever paid for a UAE-based player and is double what Al Ain paid for the player over two installments, first to bring him on loan from England’s Sunderland for £6 million (Dh34.30 million) back in 2011, and then to make that move permanent for a further £4 million in 2012.
All that remains is for Gyan, 29, to accept personal terms, with the player reportedly offered a three-year deal worth nearly €250,000 (Dh1 million) a week by Shanghai.
Gyan topped the Arabian Gulf League top scorer’s charts for three consecutive seasons since joining in 2011, but he failed to replicate such form last season where, due to injury-enforced absences, he only scored 13 goals in 17 appearances.
So far this summer Al Ain have only confirmed the signing of Dutch formed Ajax, Liverpool and 1899 Hoffenheim forward Ryan Babel, 28, who joined on an undisclosed two-year deal from Turkish side Kasimpasa. Babel replaces Slovakian winger Miroslav Stoch who returns to Turkey after a year’s loan from Fenerbahce.
Al Ain had also reportedly agreed personal terms with Chelsea’s Nigerian midfielder John Obi-Mikel, but Chelsea have yet to agree to a fee for the player. The future of Al Ain’s other foreign players, French striker Jires Kembo-Ekoko and South Korean midfielder Lee Myung-joo, remains uncertain.
In other reports, Porto’s Portuguese winger Silvestre Varela, 30, who’s had recent loan spells at England’s West Bromwich Albion and Italy’s Parma, has been linked with Al Nasr. So far Al Nasr have only signed former Al Ahli Chilean midfielder Luis Jimenez on a free transfer for a period of two-years to replace Australian midfielder Brett Holman, who has joined Emirates Club.