Baniyas are considering adding yet another foreign player to their 2013/14 squad, despite already having five on the roster.
The Abu Dhabi club have openly shifted their focus this summer to investing in the team's long-term future, placing an emphasis on recruiting promising players who have yet to reach their peak.
In the past month, they have signed Carlos Munoz, 24, a Chilean forward from Colo-Colo, and Luis Farina, 22, an Argentine playmaker who arrived on a season-long loan from Portugal's Benfica.
The South American duo join Abdulsalam Al Mukhaini, 25, an Omani defender purchased in June, for what represents a distinct remodelling of Baniyas' overseas ensemble, although Christian Wilhelmsson and Andre Senghor, two significant contributors last season, have been retained.
An injury to Wilhelmsson has ruled the Swedish midfielder out for at least the first two months of the upcoming season, prompting Baniyas' to push through the deal for Farina.
The club are investigating the possibility of augmenting their squad with one more expatriate, and have drawn a shortlist of four potential candidates.
Gonzalo Bueno, the striker at Uruguay's Nacional, forms one of their targets, while Baniyas would confirm only that another is a forward from Ecuador.
"We hope to maybe do something, although right now we are only thinking about it," said the Baniyas chairman, Mubarak bin Mahroum, from the club's temporary training base in Austria. "Nothing is confirmed, but it is still under consideration between [coach] Jorge da Silva and the technical committee."
On Sunday night, Baniyas completed the first of three friendlies to be played at their camp in Austria, losing 2-1 to Qatar's Al Sadd. They face Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia and Al Khor, another Qatari side, during the next nine days, when Da Silva is expected to make known his final thoughts on the squad for his first season in UAE football. The Uruguayan guided Penarol, the Montevideo-based club, to the his country's championship in June.
"We have a couple of games here and after that, the coach will decide," Bin Mahroum said.
"The final decision is in his hands."
Should Baniyas further expand their foreign contingent, it appears Senghor will be allowed to leave the club.
The Senegalese striker top-scored last season with 17 goals in 27 domestic matches, but has recently been linked with a transfer to Qatar.
However, Bin Mahroum was non-committal when asked about the player's future.
Farina, though, has finally met up with his new teammates following his loan move from Benfica. The attacking midfielder was in Abu Dhabi last week to be presented to the media, but had since returned home. He arrived in Austria in the early hours of Sunday morning and took part in that day's training.
Bin Mahroum said: "It's the strategy at the club right now to look for young players who are highly motivated and who also have a good reputation in their country. So we are very happy with Farina and he is very happy, too."
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