Expressed his Admiration by the Club’s Sports Facilities.. Leko: I look Forward to Achieve the Best of Croatian Football School with the Boss
Al Ain Reputation Motivated me to Take My Decision to Move from Belgium to AGL League
I Promise the Fans to Perform Honorably and Achieve the Best Results in the New Season
I Watched More Than Five Matches and I have a Good Idea on the Players’ Quality Skills
The newly-appointed Croatia’s head coach Ivan Leko toured the world-class facilities of the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, the official football field of Al Ain Club and winner of the Best Stadium in the World 2014. The coach expressed his deep pleasure and pride with the facilities he visited and the significant capabilities that are contributing greatly to the development of the team’s performance.
By the end of his tour, Ivan Leko stated: “I felt so good since the beginning of the negotiations with the Al Ain Club. I talked to several friends who know the region well and specifically the UAE football. They all assured me that Al Ain is one of the biggest clubs in the region and Asia as a whole and I felt this once I started communications with the Club. Indeed, this highly motivated me to sign to Al Ain.”
He added: “The most important thing for me during the negotiations phase was the open mentality, professionalism, honesty and seriousness of the management of the Al Ain Club through open and direct channels of communications. This is what I experienced here in Al Ain Club during the negotiations phase. Since yesterday, we have seriously kicked off our project to prepare a strong team who is able to win home and away titles.”
As for the goals he looks forward to achieving with the Boss, he said: “Following the two successful seasons with Club Brugge of Belgium, I really feel proud with all the great achievements we did. I was looking for a great club with big goals whose aspirations are unlimited, and this is what I have found here in Al Ain Club. It is the team who aspires to win each match and win all titles. I will spare no efforts to turn all these aspirations into a reality with the help of players, management and fans and with the spirit of one team.”
He went on to say: “I watched more than five matches of the team and have a good idea on the quality skills of the players to identify the level we desire to achieve based on the home and foreign players’ capacities. The most important thing is to channel all the team’s energy in the right direction and create the winning mentality in the players’ minds to achieve the desired goals.”
Commenting on a question on his feelings as he assumes his new responsibilities as a successor of his countrymen, Zlatko Dalić and Zoran Mamic, he said: “On the one hand, it is a big responsibility to be the head coach after coaches Zlatko and Zoran considering they won great titles and their names are associated with significant achievements. On the other hand, this motivates me to achieve more as possible as I can.”
“Al Ain Club adopts the principles of the Croatia football school ad this enhances my responsibilities to manage things here. I do understand what I am meant to do to achieve the goals of the club through furnishing all grounds of success, prepare the team well, boost their concentration coherence and understanding among the players to be ready for the coming season and achieve the team’s aspirations in the new season,” he said.
Commenting on a question on whether he contacted his countryman Zlatko Dalić prior signing to Al Ain, he said: “Definitely, I contacted coach Zlatko and he highly commended Al Ain Club which motivated me to sign the contract and enter the new challenge with the Boss, as I stated earlier.”
“I spent 15 years in Belgium and it is not easy to move from Belgium to UAE league. However, all the things I heard about Al Ain I did find it real during my tour to the club’s facilities and moved me to kick off the challenge with the team,” Ivan stated. He addressed a message to the players by saying: “You have to dream high and personally I have big aspirations with my new team.”
On his message to the Ainawi fans, he said: “I promise them from the first day that we will all work hard to achieve the desired goals and exhibit the genuine charisma of the Boss in all our coming matches with all due respect to our home and away competitors.”
