Rueda, 59, has been offered a $1.3 million-per-year contract to take over at the Sky Blues next season. The Colombian is one of several options they are exploring to replace Dr Abdullah Misfer, who departed last month amid discord with the board about the way forward following a ninth-place finish in the Arabian Gulf League.

But the tracking of the man who led Honduras and Ecuador at the last two World Cups is a difficult one. National hold a dominant 2-0 lead heading into Wednesday’s last-four decider in Medellin against Sao Paulo, and their boss is determined to stay until the continental commitments are over – with the second leg of the final set for July 27.

The financial package also is not currently large enough to tempt a coach who nevertheless, remains excited about the possibility of working in the Middle East. With this situation in mind, ex-Paraguay boss Ramon Diaz and Jose Luis Sierra – who resigned from Chile’s Colo-Colo earlier in the week – have been linked strongly with the post in South American media.

Bani Yas vice-chairman Mubarak Awad bin Mahirom has insisted he is not panicking about the current lack of progress.

He said: “At the top of our priorities is determining who will lead the first team next season. Several meetings have been held by the club with a number of qualified trainers from Europe and Latin America and consultations are still under way with a number of them – we have met with more than seven.”

The Sky Blues have already snapped up a quartet of players from Al Wahda, with UAE winger Amer Omar being joined by full-back Abdullah Al Noubi, defender Saeed Hizam and forward Omar Al Rashidi. Promising midfielder Faisal Ahmed has also completed a move from Dibba Al Fujairah.

This follows the loss of talismanic Whites midfielder Amer Abdulrahman to Al Ain.