UAE’s big-name signings rejuvenate football league

This has been a week like no other in the ADNOC Pro League.

A flurry of big-name additions has turned an unforeseeably strong transfer window into an utterly astonishing one.

Al-Ain’s early summer capture of Ukraine maestro Andriy Yarmolenko, plus Sharjah’s double swoop for Barcelona alumni Paco Alcacer and Miralem Pjanic, surpassed wildest hopes. Yet, these elite deals were just a starting point.

A bravura weekend witnessed the King’s remarkable business continue with esteemed Olympiacos and Greece center-back Kostas Manolas. He of “Romantada” fame and regular extravagantly priced Premier League links.

This would be swiftly followed by Al-Nasr tying up flamboyant Benfica and Morocco midfielder Adel Taarabt, with Al-Wahda emphatically reacting to the new season’s unbearably slow start by securing Everton’s Brazil warrior Allan. The 31-year-old should line up alongside the previously procured Pizzi, a former Benfica skipper and Portugal midfielder.

There was more to come.

Shabab Al-Ahli Dubai Club made, arguably, Asia’s leading deal of the market with Jason Denayer, the coveted 27-year-old ex-Lyon center-back, holding genuine pretensions about making Belgium’s World Cup 2022 roster.

Al-Jazira decisively reacted to influential Serbia center-back Milos Kosanovic’s fibula surgery by bringing in Czech Republic and Fenerbahce utility defender Filip Novak.

Such revered names were meant to be a thing of the past in the UAE’s topflight. Memories had faded of a gilded age experienced at the previous decade’s midpoint with Ghana superstar Asamoah Gyan, Brazil striker Grafite and Montenegro hit man Mirko Vucinic.

World Cup winners Fabio Cannavaro, David Trezeguet and Luca Toni preceded this celebrated cohort, but with