Qatar’s Akram Afif underlined his credentials as one in every of Asia’s most interesting forwards with a hattrick within the Asian Cup remaining to information his crew to back-to-back titles, however the ahead was coy on enjoying for one more European membership sooner or later.
Afif netted three penalties within the 3-1 victory over Jordan, and he bagged a treble of particular person awards: participant of the match, most beneficial participant of the match, and prime scorer with eight targets.
Opposition coaches who’ve confronted him have praised his expertise, with Tajikistan’s Petar Segrt saying it was solely a query of time and whether or not the 27-year-old Al-Sadd ahead needed to return to Europe.
Since main Qatar to the 2019 title with a match file 10 assists, Afif has change into one in every of Asia’s most-feared gamers.
At the beginning of this match, he mentioned he had desires of returning to Europe having beforehand performed for Eupen within the Belgian Pro League.
He later turned the primary Qatari participant to be signed by a La Liga membership when he moved to Villarreal in 2016, however he was loaned out to Sporting Gijon earlier than returning to Eupen and eventually to Al-Sadd in 2018.
He has since developed and is arguably enjoying at his peak based mostly on his Asian Cup exploits.
“I talked about becoming a professional player (in Europe). But it’s not me who decides. My wife also has to make the decision for me. It’s not easy to leave the club and country,” Afif advised reporters after the ultimate.
But he added: “I’d love to become a professional player (in Europe) … I’d say I would love to go.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com
