Abu Dhabi: Al Jazira overhauled their foreign ranks by signing two new players and offloading two on UAE transfer deadline day on Thursday evening.
The flurry of activity saw the Brazilian pair of central defender Joao Carlos and striker Ailton Almeida arrive at the Pride of Abu Dhabi. The club announced via their official Twitter account that the new recruits had replaced the Brazilian attacking midfielder Thiago Neves and the Peru winger Jefferson Farfan.
Neves’s departure comes as no surprise given the 31-year-old’s long-stated desire to leave, but Farfan appeared set to stay after similar speculation over his future in the summer.
The former PSV Eindhoven and Schalke forward had made an impressive start to the season with three goals in all competitions for the Abu Dhabi outfit.
Carlos, at 6ft 2.5ins tall and aged 34, brings much-needed height and experience to an Al Jazira defence which has often proved their Achilles’ heel.
He joins from Belgian side Lokeren on a one-year contract with the option for another year after making only 11 appearances in 2016 for a club he represented 114 times between 2004 and 2008.
His itinerant career has also featured spells in his homeland for Vasco da Gama, Bulgaria’s CSKA Moscow, another Belgian side Genk and the Russian pair of Anzhi Makhachkala and Spartak Moscow.
Meanwhile, the club had doggedly pursued Almeida, 32, in the summer, but the move broke down after his Saudi club side Al Hilal refused to sell him due to Jazira’s reported failure to pay money they owed for the 2015 transfer of Neves.
But Al Hilal were finally persuaded to endorse a four-month loan deal for the 5ft 11ins hitman, who scored six times in 22 appearances after joining from Russia’s Terek Grozny last year.
After a goalless start to his career for Atletico Mineiro in his homeland between 2000 and 2004, Almeida found his scoring form for Orgryte and FC Copenhagen in Denmark and Apoel Nicosia in Cyprus.
The pair were due to make their debuts for the club in Friday’s Arabian Gulf League game at Kalba.
They join the Montenegrin striker Mirko Vucinic, the South Korean midfielder Park Jong-woo in Jazira’s foreign quota, along with summer signing, Mbark Boussoufa, the Dutch-born Moroccan attacking midfielder.
And they will provide vital ballast to Jazira’s quest for honours in 2016/17 to add to their President’s Cup success last season.
Prior to Friday’s trip to Kalba, Henk ten Cate’s side lay second in the league behind Al Shabab after three games, albeit having played a game more than Al Ahli and Al Ain in fourth and fifth respectively.
Elsewhere on UAE transfer deadline day, Al Ain re-signed Bandar Ahbabi from Bani Yas, the winger having started his career at the Boss before moving to Al Dhafra in 2012.
In other notable transfers, Kalba snapped up the Brazilian striker Ciel.
The 34-year-old had spells at Al Shabab between 2011 and 2014 and with the reigning AGL champions Ahli between 2014 and 2016.
And another team that bolstered their strike force this week were Al Nasr, who recruited Iraq’s Mohannad Abdul Raheem on a one-year deal on Wednesday.
The striker, who last week scored all four goals in his country’s 4-0 drubbing of Thailand in the 2018 World Cup qualifier, joined the Dubai side from Al Zawraa in his homeland.
He is expected to take Wanderley’s place in the squad, with the Brazilian serving a provisional 60-day suspension meted out by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
