Al Ain chief executive officer Carlo Nohra says a permanent deal for star Ghanaian striker Asamoah Gyan is 95 percent complete.
The 26-year-old spent the 2011/12 season on loan at Al Ain from Sunderland, scoring a league-high 22 goals and guiding the club to the UAE Pro League title.
Gyan, who joined Al Ain for an initial six million-euro fee, has an option in his contract with the club to make the deal permanent for an additional 3.5 million euros.
The former Rennes man confirmed in the Ghana press this week he wanted to stay at Al Ain and on Tuesday evening Nohra said the deal was close.
"We have taken the option available to us to purchase the player outright from Sunderland and we're going through the process of finalising that as we speak,†Nohra told Sport360.
"We don't have an official announcement on that because the deal is not completed yet but it is will on the way. It’s 95 percent done and I would expect an announcement early in July.
"An agreement has more or less been agreed between the two clubs and we are now just waiting to get contracts signed with Sunderland and with Asamoah."