“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 The request is on a desk at Wadi Degla, and it is not being withdrawn.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Franck Boli 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Wadi Degla can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Wadi Degla have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Amr Hossam and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Wadi Degla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Abdelaati 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rosario Central have kept their man, and Wadi Degla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Franck Boli will call it something else in private.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around El Dakhleya people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
El Dakhleya close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 1 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.
The deal with Wadi Degla is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Sherif Dabo 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Mahmoud Ezzat 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.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. El Dakhleya know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
El Dakhleya have made the call to Al Ahly. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Wadi Degla people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Wadi Degla can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Wadi Degla until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wadi Degla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Internacional have kept their man, and Wadi Degla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Seif Teka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Nobody left the Wadi Degla dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: CSKA Moscow keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Wadi Degla asked and Mamelodi Sundowns said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Wadi Degla can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Wadi Degla have done the hard part with Internacional, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Independiente is saying, and nobody at Wadi Degla is enjoying the guessing.
Franck Boli 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.
Wadi Degla asked and Botafogo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Ahmed Farouk’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Wadi Degla.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Ali Hussein 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 16 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Military Production waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Wadi Degla is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Franck Boli 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Salah Rico 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.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Wadi Degla lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wadi Degla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Military Production have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ali Hussein. The answer from Wadi Degla has not changed — yet.
The words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Successful dribbles: 32. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.82 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Ali Hussein 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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Ismaily the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Wadi Degla will enjoy reviewing.
Two goals and a mark of 8.37 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wadi Degla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Half the programme played, position 9, 24 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ali Hussein was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Wadi Degla have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Franck Boli 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.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Mees Kaandorp was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. 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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Wadi Degla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ali Hussein 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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Masr El Makasa the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Wadi Degla will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A brace, and Ahmed Farouk takes the afternoon — 8.48
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ahmed Farouk provided it, and the 8.48 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Franck Boli 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Ali Hussein 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.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
1‑4 to Al Ahly, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wadi Degla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
Marked 6.86 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Franck Boli 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Morgan Manyama 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.
Ghazl El Mahalla made Wadi Degla work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Franck Boli was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.56. 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.
Successful dribbles: 49. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Wadi Degla can pretend not to have heard.
Franck Boli 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.
The chase for Mostafa Aboul-Kheir ended with $12.0K changing hands and El Masry out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Wadi Degla offered $11.0K; Masr El Makasa said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mamelodi Sundowns have kept their man, and Wadi Degla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Ahmed Abdin again, and this time the name on the line is Police Union. Wadi Degla are listening politely and promising nothing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. El Masry have kept their man, and Wadi Degla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Franck Boli 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.
The offer went to Al Ahly this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The phone has started ringing about Ahmed Abdin again, and this time the name on the line is Zamalek. Wadi Degla are listening politely and promising nothing.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Karim Mohsen has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Amr El Nenny is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ali Hussein was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Wadi Degla have made the call to SuperSport United. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
The dugoutFranck Boli knocks on the manager's door