A week ago, I did a post about the unlikely pairing of the Chilean international playmaker Jorge Valdivia with the little Arabian Gulf League club Fujairah FC. Which was a sensation, in the small world of UAE soccer.

At that moment in history, we were led to believe the deal was done. When it was not.

After a few days of, “uh-oh, maybe this won’t happen”, the club last night tweeted out that the deal had fallen through, which we duly reported in The National.

He had not signed with the club, though he had visited and had his photo taken shaking hands, and wearing a Fujairah scarf. But then he returned to Brazil, where he had been playing for four years … and never quite came back.

And then today …

I wrote a comment piece about the fantastic week the smallest club in the UAE’s top flight (mostly) enjoyed, beginning at the moment they were linked to bringing over Valdivia. Up to and including those photos of him the club tweeted out a week ago.

Many people who have watched football here longer than I have, which is nearly five years, are convinced Valdivia is the most gifted/influential player in the history of the UAE. They came to this conclusion by watching him play for Al Ain for two seasons, 2008-09 and 2009-10.

He is 30, but it’s not like he’s done. He just played on Chil’s World Cup team, and scored a goal against Australia and played in three of Chile’s four games. That he seemed ready to go to Fujairah, the comparitively remote northern emirate, was amazing.

I suggested that when word got out that he was about to sign with Fujairah, which to a lot of people in Europe and the Americas might think is pretty much the end of the known world, it might have convinced X number of clubs to attempt to persuade Valdivia to continue his career with a bigger club in a bigger city.

I also suggested that Fujairah’s brash/bold move signals the depth of their commitment to staying in the top division.

The comment piece, linked above, goes deeper into that.

It would have been fun. It didn’t happen. Now we move on, and perhaps Fujairah will come up with another stunning move.