Al Jazira Club player, Argentine Ramon Merez, confirmed that a former star in “Abu Dhabi Pride” played a major role in his transfer to the team starting this season, coming from Croatia’s OSIPEC.
Ramon Merez told Emirates Al-Youm that when he received an offer from Al-Jazira Club during the last summer transfer period, he contacted his compatriot, Manuel Lanzini, to inquire about this step, explaining that “the River Plate player advised me to agree immediately, and assured me that Al-Jazira is one of the big clubs.” Which always competes for titles.
It is noteworthy that Manuel Lanzini is one of the most financially successful deals in the history of the professional league, as he joined Al Jazira in August 2014 from Argentine River Plate for 7.5 million euros, then he moved on loan to West Ham in 2015, before “Pride of Abu Dhabi” agreed to a transfer. He was sold permanently in July 2016 to English West Ham for 12 million euros, where he played for the Hammers for eight years, before returning to his club where he grew up, River Plate, in August 2023.
Merez explained that he feels very happy about his move to the ADNOC Professional League, and said: “I am very pleased with my experience here, as it is the first in the region, but it is very important for my career, especially since the standards of the clubs here are high, with a large number of distinguished players.”
Regarding the difference he found in the Emirates, he said: “There is not a big difference, and at the beginning of the season I faced some difficulties, due to the difference in the weather, but in general I am very happy, and the same is true for my family, and I enjoy every detail in the Emirates.”
He talked about the results achieved by Al-Jazira so far this season, and said: “We did not start the season well, as we lost twice in the first three rounds of the league, but after that we achieved important victories, and the team in general is improving, and the level of players is rising, and I believe that if We continued to play at the level we presented in September and October, and we can compete for the league title, the President’s Cup and the Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Cup.”
The 27-year-old player stressed that there are no easy matches, and said: “All matches require great focus from the players, and the evidence for this is that in the President’s Cup we faced great difficulty in qualifying for the quarter-finals, as the team struggled to reach the quarter-finals.” Achieving victory over Al-Orouba, and the match was difficult, but we are happy because of the victory. I missed a penalty kick, and I thanked Omar Traoré after he scored the winning goal, although this happens in football, but it was important that we achieve victory and continue in the tournament.”
The Argentine player pointed out that the level of the Al Jazira team in general was acceptable, and said: “I think that our match against Sharjah is the only match during which we did not play well, but there was a reason for that, which is that we received a red card in the first minutes of the match, which Neeskens received.” Kebano, which contributed to the opponent’s superiority and victory by four unanswered goals.”
He continued his speech, saying: “But after that, the team showed its anger, played strong matches, and achieved victory in three matches, and tied in the last round against Al-Wasl on its home field, which is a good result against the defending champion, even though we were playing for victory, but I see that The season is long, and we must be more focused in the next stage, during which the intensity of competition between all clubs will increase, and the matches will be more difficult.”
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