Manchester City confirm interest in UAE's Abdulrahman

Manchester City academy chief Brian Marwood has told Sport360 that club officials remain in touch with Omar Abdulrahman and are keenly monitoring his development.

Abdulrahman, who is a doubt for Al Ain’s AFC Champions League tie against Esteghlal in Iran on Wednesday – spent two weeks on trial at the Etihad last summer.

Due to the unavailability of a work permit, the move which seemed certain went into cold storage. However, Marwood reaffirmed that the club’s ‘player care’ department have kept in touch with the 21-year old UAE international.

Brian Marwood, speaking after his appearance at the Abu Dhabi Sports Council’s Football Development Workshop, said: “We had seen him at various tournaments but obviously we saw him 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 is a very talented young player.

“There are some real challenges getting a player like him to be able to play in England which is very frustrating because it’s one that we would seriously look at.

“But we continue to monitor him, we keep in touch with him, we are aware of how he’s developing. He’s come back here and done very well and is a real talent.”

City were the first big club to move for Abdulrahman, but they are by no means the only club interested in his services.

The Al Ain team manager confirmed only last week that Spanish club Valencia were planning to send a team to Al Ain next month, while Benfica have been rejected by the player, and others like Arsenal, Barcelona, Malaga and Hamburg are all watching Abdulrahman from close quarters.