Al Ain insist Emmanuel
Emenike did not do enough to prove his worth to the United
Arab Emirates club, hence they decided to send the former Super Eagles striker packing on Wednesday.

The Abu Dhabi outfit on
Tuesday completed the
signing of Brazilian striker Douglas after they agreed to pay his €3.9m asking price from Japanese side
Sanfrecce Hiroshima.
Al Ain confirmed they decided to buy Douglas, whose 21 goals fired Sanfrecce Hiroshima to the J-League title, to the club to replace
Emenike. The South Africa 2013 Africa Cup of Nations winner was pushed out of the exit door along with former Liverpool forward
Ryan Babel.

Emenike will now return to Fenerbahce.
“I want to say thank you to Emenike and Babel for the last six months with us,” Al
Ain boss Zlatko Dalic was quoted by The National as saying on Wednesday.

“I wish them all the best next season at a new club. This is
football, this is life. Also, we did everything that our fans wanted of us.”

Al Ain board member
Mohammed Hamdoun said both players were not fully committed to the club.

Hamdoun maintains Emenike was a disappointment, saying
the striker did not live up to expectations.
“I saw Emenike in the World Cup and the Africa Cup of Nations with Nigeria and he
was a good player. But when he came here he scored only seven (league) goals, with
the local players we have here? Enough,” the Al Ain chief, who confirmed the player’s release from the side, was quoted by The
National as saying.
He added, “This is normal in football. Sometimes big names
and big players come and don’t do anything here. This can happen in any team.

Sometimes you bring one big name and he doesn’t want to play — that’s my opinion on
Babel and Emenike, I think they didn’t want to play here.”

Emenike joined the Arabian Gulf League leaders on a season-long loan deal from
Fenerbahce before the
beginning of last season after scoring just four goals in 22 appearances for the
Istanbul giants in the Turkish Super League.
The former Spartak Moscow forward scored nine goals in
15 appearances for Al Ain before the break, a
development which
encouraged Fenerbahce to consider cutting short his loan deal at the Khalifa Bin Zayed Stadium.

The Yellow Canaries
manager Vítor Pereira
believes he could solve his striking problems if Emenike returns to the team, as strikers Robin van Persie and Jose Fernandao have proved they are not reliable.


But Al Ain reacted by
replenishing their strike
force with Colombian Danilo Asprilla and Douglas.


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