(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Diego Maradona has once again sprung a surprise. After his stint at the UAE Division 1 club Fujairah as the coach, the Argentine legend has moved to lesser-known Belarusian club Dynamo Brest as the chairman. And a Belarusian club official said the deal happened by chance.
Dynamo Brest vice-chairman Valdas Ivanauskas told Khaleej Times that the days leading to securing Maradona's sign were a 'crazy situation' to handle. "This is big deal for everybody in Belarus. This is not easy to get such a big name into the club but we are very happy. We hope to benefit from his experience. He has played and been in so many countries and will know what is best for this club. This is a challenge for him and for us," said a former football attacker from Lithuania.
"This winter we opened our club to the world. We wanted our players to have experience of playing abroad. We have lot of friends here in the UAE and also with Fujairah. We talked about friendly games in summer and next winter. While holding talks, then coach Maradona, had left the club."
It was this bit of 'information' that first rattled and then had the Belarus club excited. "When we came to know, it was a big chance for us to invite him. It was a crazy situation. We asked him if he had left the club then we wanted him for us. He had offers from other countries. We kept talking to him and finally he said yes to help us," Ivanauskas said while keeping mum on the contract details including pay.
He quickly added that there will be more collaboration with the UAE. "We know about the UAE facilities. There are big chances of us being here next January," Ivanauskas said.
Meanwhile, Maradona opened up on his apparent move. "I take this opportunity to congratulate my boys in Fujairah. I say my boys and not anyone else. The club president has been very good to me. When they went for me they promised me. but didn't bring any player. But we fought and today all the achievements are thanks to the Al Fujairah boys."
Brand Maradona didn't continue at Fujairah post the automatic qualification into the League. However, Fujairah went on to win the play-offs to eventually bag a berth in the Arabian Gulf League.
In an apparent rap to the manner of his ouster at Al Wasl and Fujairah, Maradona said: "I give my heart to all Emiratis for all love and respect. I am a person who knows how to thank. My parents taught me to be thankful. I thank the boys of Fujairah for their sacrifices to make a good team. I thank the staff and guard who gave a better field. It has a lot of value and I can't thank them enough for that."
He didn't mince words talking about the manner of getting booted out from the twin UAE clubs.
"I was kicked from Al Wasl because of a tweet. At Fujairah also same thing happened - because of a tweet, they send me home. But I still believe in people. I cannot wait and am passionate to start working with my players and for the people of Belarus," Maradona said.
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