Al Gharafa focus on young Qatari players

Doha: The recent signings of youngsters Abdulmajeed Enad and Ahmed Alaaeldin from Al Rayyan seemed to suggest that Al Gharafa, who finished fifth in the Qatar Stars League last season, are keen to focus on youth players this time.

The duo will also be joined by former El Jaish players left-back Yusef Muftah and central midfielder Khalid Abdulraouf.

Alaaeldin is one of the most promising Qatari forward after he helped Qatar to a fourth-place finish at the Asian Under-23 Championship in Doha last year.

The 24-year-old has played a lot at Rayyan under Jorge Fossati and then Michael Laudrup and was even selected for the Qatar nation team along with Abdulrahman Al Harazi and Enad .

Gharafa, who had an impressive start in the 2016-17 under Pedro Caixinha who left for Scottish club Rangers in March, is also hoping to sign Algerian and Venezuelan defender to strengthen the back-line.

The club wants to forget the previous season and wants to start from the scratch under their new French coach Jean Fernandez, who guided Al Khor to the Emir’s Cup quarterfinal.

Fernandez, a former Olympique Marseille and Montpellier coach, will have to work really hard to motivate the players while the club felt the Frenchman’s rich experience will come in handy when they try to qualify for next year’s AFC Champions League through play-off.