Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Masr El Makasa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
Ramadan Hegazi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Emad Soliman 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.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.73 on the card, and the Masr El Makasa support went home talking about one name.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Mohamed El Mohamady kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Ramadan Hegazi 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.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Mohamed El Mohamady was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Masr El Makasa dressing room was either.
Ghazl El Mahalla next, and one man in the Masr El Makasa dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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 Ramadan Zaki is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Masr El Makasa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
In brief
Player ratingsHalf an hour was enough for El Sayed Ghaly
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.
Ramadan Hegazi 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 version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.72, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Emad Soliman 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ahmed El Wensh 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abdeldjalil Bahoussi and Masr El Makasa agree another 1 years.
Successful dribbles: 40. 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Salah Sobhi and Masr El Makasa agree another 2 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Masr El Makasa 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 Ibrahim Trezeguet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
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 dugout4 Dec 2028
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.” Mohamed El Mohamady chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Ramadan Hegazi 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” El Sayed Ghaly and Masr El Makasa agree another 4 years.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at Masr El Makasa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim Trezeguet 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.
Marked 8.02. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Masr El Makasa.
The dugout13 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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Mohamed El Mohamady to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ibrahim Trezeguet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Haras El Hodoud were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mohamed El Mohamady on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Every debut is a small story about the future: Salah El Wensh, 16 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
Ramadan Hegazi 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 Omar Kahraba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Mohamed Shehata’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Masr El Makasa needing him to play as if none of it matters.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Masr El Makasa would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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 Masr El Makasa, 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 Masr El Makasa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Masr El Makasa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim Trezeguet 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 Masr El Makasa 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.
Ramadan Hegazi 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Police Union scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Mohamed El Mohamady after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ibrahim Trezeguet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Masr El Makasa asked and Zamalek said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ashraf El Wensh and Masr El Makasa agree another 3 years.
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.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ahmed Mohsen did not need any: 7.95, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 6 arrived, 11 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Masr El Makasa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Masr El Makasa and El Dakhleya in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Ahmed El Wensh at his very best
The offer from Al Ahly for Ahmed El Wensh 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 Masr El Makasa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. El Sayed Hassan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Masr El Makasa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Masr El Makasa have done the hard part with Aswan, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Masr El Makasa had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at El Masry, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Ramadan Hegazi 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” El Sayed Ghaly commits to Masr El Makasa for another 4 years.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Omar Kahraba 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Masr El Makasa have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Masr El Makasa and Aswan have settled on $12.0K. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Masr El Makasa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Masr El Makasa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim Trezeguet 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.
Masr El Makasa asked and Arab Contractors said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody at Masr El Makasa 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.
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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Masr El Makasa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ramadan Hegazi 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.
Masr El Makasa 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.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Masr El Makasa. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Masr El Makasa have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Yasser Trezeguet was one of the reasons people came, and $10.1M does not replace that by itself.
The deal with Al Gaish 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.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Arab Contractors have kept their man, and Masr El Makasa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Masr El Makasa can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ahmed El Hadary was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ramadan Hegazi signs something — a contract at Masr El Makasa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Masr El Makasa 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.
In brief
The terracesThe Ahmed El Wensh rumours reach the terraces
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Masr El Makasa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Ramadan Hegazi 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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Mohamed El Mohamady after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Edvan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Masr El Makasa 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 Ibrahim Trezeguet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 dugout17 Apr 2028
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.” Mohamed El Mohamady chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yasser Trezeguet signs something — a contract at Masr El Makasa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Off the academy pitches and onto a senior team sheet at 17. The debut is the easy part; the second appearance is the one every young player has to earn.
In brief
The dugoutKarim Mohsen knocks on the manager's door
Ramadan Hegazi 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yasser Trezeguet. 4‑2 against Military Production, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Ramadan Hegazi 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Masr El Makasa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim Trezeguet 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: Ahmed El Wensh. 2‑1 against Ismaily, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Everybody at Masr El Makasa saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Ramadan Hegazi 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Mohamed El Mohamady could afford to be generous.
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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Masr El Makasa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Masr El Makasa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim Trezeguet 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Masr El Makasa has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Masr El Makasa 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Masr El Makasa have done the hard part with Smouha, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Zamalek keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The deal that would have taken El Sayed Hassan to Petrojet has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Masr El Makasa with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Ramadan Hegazi 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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 easiest signature of my career.” Mohamed El Nenny and Masr El Makasa agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Mohamed El Mohamady after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Successful dribbles: 38. 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Masr El Makasa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Masr El Makasa, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Masr El Makasa can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Masr El Makasa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Masr El Makasa can pretend not to have heard.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.89 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Ramadan Hegazi 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Masr El Makasa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim Trezeguet 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.
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.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Basit Ahmed is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Masr El Makasa 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 Masr El Makasa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Omar Kahraba and Masr El Makasa agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Nobody at Masr El Makasa 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 brace, and Salah Sobhi takes the afternoon — 9.14
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Salah Sobhi provided it, and the 9.14 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Salah Sobhi and Masr El Makasa agree another 2 years.
Ramadan Hegazi 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 finished 2‑0, and it was Salah Sobhi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Masr El Makasa.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Masr El Makasa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmed El Hadary 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mohamed El Mohamady on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Masr El Makasa 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 Ibrahim Trezeguet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Masr El Makasa can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Masr El Makasa deserved better, and so did he.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Abdallah Fathy and Masr El Makasa agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Nobody at Masr El Makasa 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Masr El Makasa 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. Al Ahly have kept their man, and Masr El Makasa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Masr El Makasa know 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.
Nobody at Masr El Makasa 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Masr El Makasa people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Ramadan Hegazi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Masr El Makasa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim Trezeguet 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.
Masr El Makasa asked and Lokomotiv Moscow 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 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.
Ramadan Trezeguet has gone, the accounts have $85.0K 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Masr El Makasa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Mohamed Shehata has, at Masr El Makasa, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Smouha paid $85.0K and Masr El Makasa took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ibrahim Trezeguet 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. Ludogorets have kept their man, and Masr El Makasa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Masr El Makasa have made the call to Ludogorets. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only 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 Masr El Makasa can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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 Masr El Makasa 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 Ibrahim Trezeguet 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. Ludogorets have kept their man, and Masr El Makasa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Masr El Makasa 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.
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.
Not a month, not a run of form — a whole season of being the best 20-year-old anybody in this division could put on a pitch. This is the honour that gets mentioned for the rest of his career.
“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 Masr El Makasa, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Masr El Makasa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Masr El Makasa know now that the thought has arrived.
Nobody at Masr El Makasa 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.
162 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Masr El Makasa 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 Masr El Makasa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ramadan Hegazi 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Masr El Makasa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim Trezeguet 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ouadjih Khelfaoui will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CS Constantine the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Pape Paye 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 169 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Masr El Makasa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmed El Hadary 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.
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 Yasser Trezeguet is on it.
Position 6 on 57 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Masr El Makasa. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Masr El Makasa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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 were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mohamed El Mohamady after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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 wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; CS Constantine are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Tosin Omoyele 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 Djihad Bizimana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Zakaria Bouhalfaya has his answer from CS Constantine; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Riyad Belaili to a room that had heard them before.
5 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Masr El Makasa have lost him in all but the paperwork.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Masr El Makasa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmed El Hadary 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.
In brief
The dugoutKarim Mohsen dropped after a run of poor form
Player ratingsThe pass was always on for Ricardinho
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Ahmed El Wensh’s exile