“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 The request is on a desk at Zamalek, and it is not being withdrawn.
$5.7M on the table at Al Nasr. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” USM Khenchela had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The clubs have shaken hands with Al Gaish; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zamalek 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. Corinthians have kept their man, and Zamalek go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
SquadWords at Zamalek training over how hard people work
“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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zamalek people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Zamalek have gone to Talleres 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Zamalek, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 Aug 2026
Kewin arrives at Zamalek in a $1.5M statement of intent
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Zamalek have paid $1.5M for Kewin, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Zamalek offered $26.0K; Arab Contractors 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Bezerra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Military Production waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zamalek is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.20 at 41, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The offer from Ittihad for Ahmed Khodary 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mamelodi Sundowns have kept their man, and Zamalek go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer went to Damac 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 number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $39.8K — a club that wants Youssef El Gohary enough to be asked twice.
Zamalek have gone to El Masry 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.
Zamalek arrived with $2.3M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Emad Tarek has gone, the accounts have $2.3M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Moaz Ateya is living that version at Masr El Makasa, and it tends to show in the first month.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Masr El Makasa have done the hard part with Frosinone, 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 Al Ahly is saying, and nobody at Masr El Makasa is enjoying the guessing.
Mahmoud Warda 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 Mostafa Marwan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Emad Tarek has just signed for Zamalek, and for once the answer mattered.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $2.3M has been paid because Emad Tarek is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
The clubs have shaken hands with Haras El Hodoud; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
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.
The offer went to Haras El Hodoud 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Zamalek training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Bezerra 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emad Tarek 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.” Ramadan Hegazi and Masr El Makasa agree another 2 years.
The phone has started ringing about Ahmed Zizo again, and this time the name on the line is Aswan. Masr El Makasa are listening politely and promising nothing.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Emad Tarek trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Masr El Makasa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Mostafa Marwan 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.
In brief
The terracesSupporters make their feelings known about Walid El Shenawy