36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Petrojet lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Petrojet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Zidan Nageh 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Petrojet, another week without a signature from Gabriel Chukwudi.
122 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Petrojet 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.” Petrojet have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
ENPPI have accepted the money. What Petrojet 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. Abdulraheem Shola will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Petrojet the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Petrojet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Military Production waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Petrojet is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have shaken hands with El Masry; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Petrojet have done the hard part with Grêmio, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ahmed Yassin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Gaish have kept their man, and Petrojet go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Amr El Gazar 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Petrojet is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Canaria 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.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words at Petrojet training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmed Yassin 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rasheed Ahmed. 1‑0 against Police Union, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
Rasheed Ahmed was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. 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.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.09 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The offer from Zamalek for Canaria 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Petrojet have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Ikenna Benjamin has agreed terms with ENPPI for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Rasheed Ahmed and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Ahmed Yassin 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rasheed Ahmed. 2‑1 against Wadi Degla, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Petrojet will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ahmed Yassin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 dugout6 Nov 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑4 defeat, delivered by Emad Tarek to a room that had heard them before.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Adham Farid is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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 Mostafa El Badry is on it.
68 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Petrojet lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Petrojet, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Petrojet they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The deal with ENPPI 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. ENPPI have kept their man, and Petrojet go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Canaria 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Petrojet training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hesham Balaha 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Youssef Limouri trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.