Almunia passes on his expertise to Jazira keepers

abu dhabi — For the past three years Al Jazira’s goalkeeping coach, Manuel Almunia has been passing on his expertise and knowledge he picked up during an impressive career playing at the very top in England.

The 41-year-old Spaniard has helped improve the goalkeeping performances at the club but believes this is down to the talent and determination of the players to improve every day.

Almunia knows exactly what is required to succeed as a goalkeeper having represented Arsenal and other clubs in Spain during his 19-year playing career. Now under his guidance, Ali Khaseif, Adel Abubakr and Abdulrahman Al Ameri have all shown remarkable progress.

“When I arrived at Al Jazira, I found the goalkeeping quality much better than I expected,” said Almunia. “They are all very good goalkeepers with an excellent mentality, but more importantly they have improved a lot in terms of technique.”

For instance, Khaseif, who has made more than 200 appearances, has become an integral figure, leading by example as club captain. Even when he is injured or rested, Al Jazira have plenty of quality cover with Al Ameri and Abubakr showing great promise.

“Ali Khaseif is a big name player for club and country who is very experienced,” said Almunia. “More importantly he values the work that I am doing and encourages the other goalkeepers to do the things that would benefit them.

They are all very good goalkeepers with an excellent mentality, but more importantly they have improved a lot in terms of technique

Manuel Almunia