ABU DHABI // Jonathan Pitroipa, the Player of the Tournament at last year's African Cup of Nations, and Mirko Vucinic, the Juventus forward, have finalised their moves to Al Jazira.
Pitroipa, 28, the winger for Burkino Faso and Rennes, completes the foreign contingent of the Abu Dhabi club.
[ Read more: Al Jazira close in on deal for Juventus striker Mirko Vucinic ]
Jazira previously had decided to retain the Morocco international Abdelaziz Barrada, who had a strong 2013/14 season, and the Brazilian midfielder Jucilei de Silva, who will play as the Asian player, having obtained a Palestine passport.
“The paperwork has been completed and the players will be officially unveiled to the media in a few days,” Abdulrahman Al Khudairi, a club spokesman, said Friday.
Pitroipa arrives in Abu Dhabi after spells with Bundesliga clubs Freiburg (2004-2008) and Hamburg (2008-2011) before his switch to Rennes of the French top flight.
His career began at Planete Champion, in his homeland, until he moved to Germany in 2004.
He crossed over to Hamburg from Freiburg on a free transfer and to Rennes on July 2011. He counts 46 international caps for Burkina Faso, since his debut in 2006, and led them to the African Cup of Nations final last year. He was named the competition’s top player despite Burkino Faso’s 1-0 loss to Nigeria in the final.
[ Read more: African Cup of Nations: Burkina Faso’s Jonathan Pitroipa is a joke, a muse and a winner ]
Vucinic, 30, the Montenegro international whose move to Jazira was reported earlier in the week, replaces Felipe Caicedo, who played for Ecuador in the World Cup, starting the games against Switzerland and Honduras.
Jazira will regroup for the first training session under new coach Eric Gerets at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium on Saturday night.
It is not clear if Vucinic and Pitroipa will join the training but the duo, along with Barrada and Jucilei, would seem to comprise an impressive foreign quartet.
Vucinic crosses over having won three successive Seria A championships with Juventus and has 12 seasons in Italy’s top flight since his move there in 2000 at the age of 16. He had spells at both Lecce, who twice were in Seria B during his time there, and Roma before moving to Turin.
After a trophy-less run last season, Jazira acted swiftly by replacing coach Walter Zenga when their campaign ended with a 4-2 aggregate defeat to Al Ain in the Asian Champions League round of 16.
Caicedo did not impress with his play after joining them in January. The club did not renew the contract of the Korean defender Shin Hyung-min.
Jazira seems to have addressed their most pressing concerns as they prepare for the coming season.
They signed Gerets on a two-year deal in May.
The Belgian manager has had success in the region with Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia, winning the Saudi Professional League and the Saudi Crown Prince Cup in 2010.
He led Qatari club Lekhwiya to the Qatar All Stars League and the Crown Prince Cup in 2013/2014. “The last two visits in the Gulf with Hilal and Lekhwiya ended in a very positive way,” Gerets said when he was hired. “I know, if you are a sportsman, life is about winning important titles.”
apassela@thenational.ae
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