Etihad Stadium side keen on young attacker.
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Manchester City are the latest club to eye a summer swoop for United Arab Emirtes international attacker Omar Abdulrahmen, the Express understands.
The 21-year-old had already spent time with the champions last August when he spent two weeks at Carrington playing in friendlies and joining in with first team training sessions. A deal was thought to have been agreed, but work permit issues and problems with his national team’s ranking meant that the move couldn’t go ahead.
The player went back to parent club Al Ain where he has since scored eight times in 21 appearances.
Arsenal, Barcelona, Malaga and Hamburg have all kept tabs on him since he impressed at the London Olympics and the 2013 Gulf Cup of Nations for the United Arab Emirates.
However, it is believed that City hold the advantage after already having the player at the club for a short time and City’s academy chief, Brian Marwood, reiterated their desire to secure Abdulrahman’s future at a recent development workshop held by the Abu Dhabi Sports Council by saying; “We had seen him at various tournaments but obviously we saw him a little closer to home at the Olympics and he did very, very well.”
“Our chairman organised for him to come over and spend some time with us. I think he enjoyed the experience , we enjoyed having him with us,” he continued, ” There are some real challenges getting a player like him to be able to play in England, which is seriously frustrating because it is one we would seriously look at.”
Abdulrahmen has four goals in 16 caps for the UAE.