Mohamed Hany and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Al Ahly training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yasser Ibrahim is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
7 goals in 11 games at Ittihad — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al Ahly updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Mohamed El Shenawy’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Al Ahly needing him to play as if none of it matters.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Oston O'runov signs something — a contract at Al Ahly or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Yasser Ibrahim has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Seidu Basit and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Isaac Saviour falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Afsha’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Ittihad needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Blessing Eleke trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Ittihad has been clear about where Ahmed Menshawi stands, which is more than many ever get.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ittihad. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A side in position 12 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Afsha provided it, and the 8.53 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ittihad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Mohamed Tony and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isaac Saviour was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Youssry Wahid at his very best
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Ahly is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Soufiane Benjdida, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Samuel Oppong falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Ismaily in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ittihad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Moamen Sherif is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match3 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Ittihad. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Seidu Basit was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Seidu Basit has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
8.29. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
In brief
SquadIsaac Saviour falls out with a teammate over standards
Ittihad asked and Grêmio said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A performance of 8.29 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Isaac Saviour falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Ittihad close the window on a squad of their own making
16 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Ittihad, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Cruzeiro keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ittihad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The deal that would have taken Sobhy Soliman to Ghazl El Mahalla has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Ittihad with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bragantino have kept their man, and Ittihad go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Isaac Saviour falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Seidu Basit had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ittihad people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Ittihad, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Palmeiras keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ittihad can pretend not to have heard.
Ittihad had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Grêmio, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Wasl have kept their man, and Ittihad go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Abdelrahman Magdy. 2‑0 against Police Union, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Ittihad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Tony is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
8.07. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Afsha was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.