44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. El Masry lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Ittihad kept coming because nothing stopped them, and El Masry will be asked about the last half hour all week.
“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 The request is on a desk at El Masry, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal that would have taken Koffi to Police Union has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to El Masry with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Hussein Faisal 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Godknows Dzakpasu has, at El Masry, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
In brief
SquadWords at El Masry training over how hard people work
60 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. El Masry lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” El Masry have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around El Masry people have started saying his name in the past tense.
El Masry and Petrojet have settled on $350.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 16 signed and 16 gone
That is the business done at El Masry 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdallah Boukhanfer will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around El Masry the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Karim El Eraki 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 83 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what El Masry can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around El Masry people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have shaken hands with Ittihad; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Karim El Eraki 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 name of Amr Shaaban has come up in conversations El Masry were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
97 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. El Masry lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what El Masry can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Military Production waiting with a shirt. Nobody at El Masry is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. El Masry have done the hard part with Al Ahly, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El Masry this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed El Shami was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 29 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Haras El Hodoud have done the hard part with Masr El Makasa, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The offer went to El Masry 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Magli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mohamed Hassan and Haras El Hodoud agree another 3 years.
The words a physio says slowly. 112 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. El Masry have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Petrojet for Bismark Asante was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“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 El Masry, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around El Masry they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Karim El Eraki 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.
El Masry have gone to ENPPI with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
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 words a physio says slowly. 56 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.
“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 El Masry, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around El Masry people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee El Masry could ask drops and the wages Hassan Ali can ask rise.
63 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. El Masry lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around El Masry people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Ittihad have accepted the money. What El Masry do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ameed Sawafta will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around El Masry the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Amr Shaaban reports back to El Masry with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Karim El Eraki 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.
In brief
SquadWords at El Masry training over how hard people work
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. El Masry lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Haras El Hodoud waiting with a shirt. Nobody at El Masry is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have shaken hands with Petrojet; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what El Masry 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.” El Masry have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Karim El Eraki 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.
“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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at El Masry training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed El Shami 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.
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. El Masry lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what El Masry can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at El Masry is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Karim El Eraki 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.
Squad7 May 2029
Words at El Masry training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed El Shami 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.
Nobody at El Masry will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. El Masry lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around El Masry they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Karim El Eraki 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 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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at El Masry can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mahmood Aliyu has his answer from El Masry; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
134 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. El Masry lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 7 on 54 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.12 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Karim El Eraki 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.
5 matches without a win, and then this, against Military Production. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Blessing Eleke had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Haras El Hodoud were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.18 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at El Masry is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Karim El Eraki 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at El Masry can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Police Union will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
“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 El Masry, and it is not being withdrawn.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.40 for the rest of it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around El Masry they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Karim El Eraki 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.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. El Masry will try again when the window opens; Aswan may not be selling by then.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed El Shami was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Aswan waiting with a shirt. Nobody at El Masry is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 El Masry, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El Masry 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. Aswan have kept their man, and El Masry go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Al Ahly had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mohamed El Shami provided it, and the 8.79 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Petrojet waiting with a shirt. Nobody at El Masry is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
1 for Mohamed Shokry, marked 7.81, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Karim El Eraki 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed El Shami was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Ignacio Moreno is in the works
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. El Masry will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” El Masry have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Karim El Eraki 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Abderrahim Deghmoum is on it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around El Masry people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Amr Gomaa has agreed terms with Ittihad for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Karim El Eraki 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around El Masry they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Toumani Diakité has just signed for El Masry, and for once the answer mattered.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason El Masry will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. El Masry have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what El Masry can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ismaily have kept their man, and El Masry go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 23 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.
Karim El Eraki 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Mahmoud Hamada has improved at 34, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what El Masry can pretend not to have heard.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Haras El Hodoud moved on, Bismark Asante reports back to El Masry, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Karim El Eraki 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.
At 32 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at El Masry training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khaled Sobhi 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Amr Shaaban has his answer from El Masry; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at El Masry, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. El Masry have lost him in all but the paperwork.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El Masry this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Khaled Sobhi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at El Masry will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what El Masry 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.” El Masry have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Karim El Eraki 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hassan Ali trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Karim El Eraki 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at El Masry can tell you which week it ends in.
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at El Masry training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khaled Sobhi 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.
Nobody at El Masry will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Emad Gabr after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Koffi
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what El Masry can pretend not to have heard.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ameed Sawafta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.94 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El Masry this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Position 10, 21 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Military Production scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Emad Gabr chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
The dugoutAmr Shaaban dropped after a run of poor form