The rumors had been that Fabio Cannavaro might be one-and-done as a player in the UAE’s Pro League. The man may have been Fifa Player of the Year as recently as 2006, but the little Italian looked pretty much done this year while playing for the Dubai club Al Ahli.

He wasn’t awful, exactly. He just wasn’t very good and missed six of the 22 league games … which is pretty much what you might expect from a guy who was 37 this year.

The most specific rumor was that he would give up playing the game and become a technical advisor for Ahli.

But no … Fabio has said he plans to play out the second year of his contract, and I think we understand why.

He has about 6 million reasons why he would come back … which is about how much (in U.S. dollars) he is earning per season here.

Yes, $6 million per year. Some of it in salary, perhaps some of it in endorsements and appearances, etc. (Think Beckham’s contract with the Galaxy, and you have the idea.)

Hard to imagine Fabio could wangle that sort of pay from any other endeavor in the coming year. Would Italian TV give him that? Is anyone ready to hire him as a coach and give him that much?

No, and no.

(I am reminded of what Diego Maradona said when he was introduced as the coach of Al Wasl earlier this month, and he was asked if he were making $6 million a year: “Players make that much money; coaches don’t.”)

Fabio made clear his intentions to play another year in a long interview given to the Pro League’s website. The National’s story from that item can be seen here.

Some other Fabio thoughts …

–To my knowledge, he did not give an interview to an English-language newspaper after early September of last year. He became sort of the worst-case scenario for not promoting a world-famous player. After a bit of buzz around his first few games … he was nearly invisible in the media. Not available, not accessible in the mixed zone after matches … This newspaper had a standing request with Al Ahli for an interview. Any time, any place. Nothing. I think people forgot he was still playing. Really. He was that inconspicuous.

–It is curious that he gave this interview to the league’s website. Why not call a press conference and let all the media in the country have at him at once? Was the chat done in Italy and translated by his handlers and sent to the league? Could very well have been.

–He did not address what we here at The National heard from people very close to David O’Leary, the Ahli coach for most of last season — that his “legs are gone” and that he was no longer a difference-making player.

–He did, however, have several interesting things to say about UAE football — that it needs to do a better job of developing young players, that Emiratis need to become better professionals, that the league should expand to 14 teams from the current 12, and add a fourth foreigner for each team.

–And he expressed interest in coaching. Like, serious interest. He made a point of noting all the big clubs he has played for, and the first-tier coaches he has been involved with.

So, given that he is open to new ideas, and has been around the block a time or 10 … maybe can be a world-class coach some day.

Pretty clearly, he’s no longer a world-class player. But it’s hard to turn down that $6 million. I get it.