Rumour has it that in a faraway land called the United Arab Emirates, there is man they call ‘The Middle-Eastern Messi’. A player so fast he puts Carlton Cole to shame, so skilful he wasn’t allowed to compete in Wayne Rooney’s street striker as it would be ‘unfair’ to other competitors. All we know for sure is that he’s a distant relative of David Luiz.
The player goes by the name Omar Abdulrahman, but you will probably know him best for his short stint as an actor, most notably playing the role as ‘Sideshow Bob’ in The Simpsons. Once he knew a career in Hollywood wasn’t going to pan out, Omar turned his attention to football. He signed for Arabian giant Al-Ain in 2000 with his two brothers, in turn the club granted his whole Saudi Arabian family citizenship.
Europe’s most prestigious clubs took interest after his performance in the biggest mickey mouse cup of them all, The Olympic Games. After impressing there, ‘The Middle-Eastern Messi’ was offered a two-week trial at Manchester City, where the legend creator king Kolo Touré claimed he had the ability to be one of the greatest players in Europe. Unfortunately, due work permit issues Europe have been denied the opportunity to bask in his greatness.
Since then, the 26-year-old has gained celebrity status in UAE, He recently surpassed one million followers on Instagram, which is three times as many followers as West Ham. FourFourTwo, the footballing magazine people pretend to read in order to sound smart, named him as Asia’s best player this year, ahead of Premier League winner Shinji Okazaki and Tottenham’s Son Heung-min.
Abdulrahman is no stranger to winning (That rules Tottenham out from signing him). Since debuting for Al-Ain he has won an impressive nine trophies. They may be trophies no one has ever heard of before but they count never the less. In all fairness the boy is rather impressive. Don’t believe me? Well have a look at this clip of him making a mug out of Barcelona’s Goalkeeper Jordi Masip, with a ‘Panenka’ Andrea Pirlo would be proud of.
Unfortunately, Omar finds himself in a bit of a pickle in regards to leaving UAE. The multi-millionaire owners are reluctant to let their greatest talent leave, so he has been trapped playing for 11 years in a league my nan would win. Thankfully his contract is up at the end of this season, so it is likely we will be seeing him join one of Europe’s best clubs before inevitably joining Stoke like all players compared to Messi end up. Just ask Bojan Krkic and Ibrahim Afellay.