Al Ain appear to have hit a brick wall in their attempts to offload Brazilian flop Michel Bastos – with Roma turning down the opportunity to sign the winger permanently.
Bastos spent the second half of last season on loan at the Italian club, and the Boss had been hopeful that the Serie A giants would exercise their right to buy the 30-year-old outright.
However, despite offering the former Brazil international to Roma for a fraction of the €3.5 million (Dh17.5m) option in his initial loan, their interest has cooled.
Three Brazilian clubs have made their interest in Bastos known, but as yet none have made a concrete offer for the former Lyon man.
With his future clearly lying away from the Garden City, Bastos has not reported for pre-season training and did not travel to Turkey with the rest of the squad for a two-week training camp on Friday.
Jires Kembo Ekoko, another player whose future is less than certain, did travel with the 29-man party, but Ghana star Asamoah Gyan has been given an extended holiday following his exertions at the World Cup in Brazil.
Al Ain’s players, and coach Zlatko Dalic, will meet new signing Miroslav Stoch for the first time in Turkey after he completed his one-year loan from Fenerbahce on Thursday.
Stoch joins Al Ain from the Turkish club having spent last season on loan in Greece with PAOK, and Dalic hinted that the former Chelsea man would not be the final arrival this summer.
“We need to improve our elements and Miroslav is an outstanding player,” he said.
“We look forward over the coming period to bring in an excellent player as we should be careful in choosing the foreigners as there are many names that want to come to Al Ain, but we look forward to choosing the best.”
Dalic also paid tribute to Gyan, who became the highest scoring African at World Cups with two goals in Brazil.
“I would like to congratulate Gyan for the magnificent form shown with his national team in the World Cup,” he said.