Al Wasl’s Fabio De Lima was crowned the 2016/17 Arabian Gulf League’s best foreign player on Monday night. He spoke to John McAuley about his future, his international ambitions and Wasl’s title aspirations next season.
Deserved award
De Lima merited being recognised as the league’s best foreign player this season, scoring 25 goals to help Wasl finish second — their best result in the professional era. The Brazilian’s haul also sealed another runner-up spot: only Al Jazira’s Ali Mabkhout scored more goals (33) in the 2016/17 campaign. Once again, De Lima’s future is subject to much speculation heading into the summer.
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On his current situation
“I’m very happy to stay here in Al Wasl, but you know football moves so fast,” De Lima said. “I have some offers from outside the UAE, but now I’ll go on my vacation. I want to stay here, but it doesn’t just depend on me, it depends on Al Wasl. If Al Wasl need me here, I’ll stay here. I have some good offers, like from China, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and my family depends on me.”
On negotiations with Wasl
“My agent will call the committee next week now that the season is finished,” he said. “I don’t know what they will do, but I’ll wait until my agent calls me and we’ll speak about some things I want. But for now I concentrate on Al Wasl. I think I’ll stay, but it depends on the club. If they don’t speak to me I will leave, but if they speak to me to stay, I’ll stay. Because I like the club and the fans so much.”
On European/international ambitions
“All players want to play in Europe,” he said. “I’m 23 — very young for a footballer. I want to play in Europe and I have some offers from there, but until now I have a contract here. In three or four years I want to go back to Brazil because I want to play for the national team. I think it’s possible, that I have the quality to play for the national team. But my mentality is to continue here. It depends on Al Wasl.”
On winning the AGL next season
“Yes, it’s possible,” he said. “I think Al Wasl need to buy some local players because they already have some very good foreign players in me, Caio, Ronaldo [Mendes] and Serginho. But we need to bring some players here because we have four or five competitions to play and, if we have good players when we have substitutions and injuries, it’s possible to also fight to move up in the league.”
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Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Starring: Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Mohammad Alsurafa
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Iraq negotiating over Iran sanctions impact
- US sanctions on Iran’s energy industry and exports took effect on Monday, November 5.
- Washington issued formal waivers to eight buyers of Iranian oil, allowing them to continue limited imports. Iraq did not receive a waiver.
- Iraq’s government is cooperating with the US to contain Iranian influence in the country, and increased Iraqi oil production is helping to make up for Iranian crude that sanctions are blocking from markets, US officials say.
- Iraq, the second-biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, pumped last month at a record 4.78 million barrels a day, former Oil Minister Jabbar Al-Luaibi said on Oct. 20. Iraq exported 3.83 million barrels a day last month, according to tanker tracking and data from port agents.
- Iraq has been working to restore production at its northern Kirkuk oil field. Kirkuk could add 200,000 barrels a day of oil to Iraq’s total output, Hook said.
- The country stopped trucking Kirkuk oil to Iran about three weeks ago, in line with U.S. sanctions, according to four people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified because they aren’t allowed to speak to media.
- Oil exports from Iran, OPEC’s third-largest supplier, have slumped since President Donald Trump announced in May that he’d reimpose sanctions. Iran shipped about 1.76 million barrels a day in October out of 3.42 million in total production, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
- Benchmark Brent crude fell 47 cents to $72.70 a barrel in London trading at 7:26 a.m. local time. U.S. West Texas Intermediate was 25 cents lower at $62.85 a barrel in New York. WTI held near the lowest level in seven months as concerns of a tightening market eased after the U.S. granted its waivers to buyers of Iranian crude.
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