Without a club since his departure from Al Rayyan this summer, Portuguese coach Leonardo Jardim is on the verge of finding a project.
Leonardo Jardim is back in business. While his career has been on standby since this summer and his departure from Qatar, the Portuguese has recently reached an agreement with a club to return to service. According to information from MaisFutebol, it is in Al-Ain, in the United Arab Emirates, that the former AS Monaco technician will continue his career.
Leonardo Jardim returns to the Emirates
The return to Europe is not planned for immediately, concerning Leonardo Jardim. Known in particular for his stints at Braga, Sporting and Monaco, the Portuguese coach does not seem inclined to return to the old continent, while he has a series of experiences in the Gulf.
Former coach of Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia, then Shabab Al-Ahli in the United Arab Emirates, and more recently at Al-Rayyan in Qatar, Leonardo Jardim is in the process of joining Al-Ain, and to mark his comeback to the Emirates. Within this club, which has won the national championship fourteen times in its history, the Portuguese should take over from Hernan Crespo.
Well-known faces
This new experience should not completely disorient the Portuguese coach. Indeed, Leonardo Jardim will be able to return to a championship that he knows well, and which he has already won in 2023, under the colors of Shabab Al-Ahli. Indeed, the former coach of AS Monaco had left his mark in the Emirates, allowing this club to establish itself on the national scene, no less than seven years after its last coronation.
If he dreams of a new title in the United Arab Emirates, Leonardo Jardim will, this time, be faced with a completely different difficulty. At the start of the season, Al-Ain is experiencing significant sporting difficulties, and has only won two of its first five league matches. In these conditions, the club is in a very disappointing eighth place in the ranking.
It remains to be seen whether the Portuguese will manage to raise the bar, with a squad marked by the presence of some references from the Emirati championship. This is particularly the case of the Moroccan Soufiane Rahimi, who has established himself as one of the stars of Al-Ain since his arrival in 2021. Leonardo Jardim will also be able to count on a player well known to Portuguese football fans: the defender central Fabio Cardoso, who arrived this summer from FC Porto.
Alexandre Ribeiro launched the Trivela.fr site in 2019 and today runs it alongside his colleagues. Passionate about Portuguese football as a whole, and in particular the Portuguese national team, it is with all his energy and involvement that he brings this media to life on a daily basis.
