Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Amr El Saadawy 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.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Kingsley Eduwo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.49. 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.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Masr El Makasa tried to reorganise, El Masry did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Hassan Ali 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hassan Ali will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around El Masry the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.86 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
7.85, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Police Union waiting with a shirt. Nobody at El Masry is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from Aswan for Amr El Saadawy 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.
“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.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Hassan Ali 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 were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Walid Salah after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Kingsley Eduwo is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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.
Position 3, 50 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 2 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.
The phone has started ringing about Mounder Temine again, and this time the name on the line is Police Union. El Masry are listening politely and promising nothing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Smouha have kept their man, and El Masry go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
In brief
SquadHassan Ali falls out with a teammate over standards
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Moustafa Zeidan at his very best
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.
“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.
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 midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 7.39, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
9 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Ghazl El Mahalla will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. El Masry were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
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 Aswan for Hassan Ali 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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.99 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.87 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Successful dribbles: 30. 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 offer from CR Belouizdad for Richardson Denzell 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 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.
Position 2, 41 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
7 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kingsley Eduwo provided it, and the 8.91 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. El Masry had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
The phone has started ringing about Mounder Temine again, and this time the name on the line is Police Union. El Masry are listening politely and promising nothing.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between El Masry and Military Production, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Listowel Amankona 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.
Marked 8.42 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Three points for El Masry, 2‑0 the final word against Smouha in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at El Masry training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hassan Ali 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 36, 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Walid Salah on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
In brief
The dugoutEl Masry pick somebody else ahead of Bambo
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kingsley Eduwo provided it, and the 8.92 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
8.08. 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.
Marked 8.01 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Kingsley Eduwo had El Masry level again within 1 minutes, and Wadi Degla never got to play with a lead at all.
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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Walid Salah, on a 3‑2 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hassan Ali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Haras El Hodoud will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. El Masry were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between El Masry and Haras El Hodoud, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Marked 8.23 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Abdo Nader and El Masry agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at El Masry training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hassan Ali 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 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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Mahmoud Hamdy knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Karim El Eraki and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at El Masry training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hassan Ali 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.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Zamalek.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Zamalek in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. El Masry know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Mounder Temine has written the date down.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Mahmoud Hamada plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
Moustafa Zeidan had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Aswan were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Two goals and a mark of 8.17 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
7.81, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hassan Ali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Walid Salah after the 3‑3 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
There were 89 minutes on the clock and Al Gaish had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and El Masry did not stop to explain themselves.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Baher Elmohamady is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation El Masry are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
6 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
1 for Baher Elmohamady, marked 7.62, 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.
Marked 8.14 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Hassan Ali 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Walid Salah, on a 4‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Al Gaish next, and one man in the El Masry dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nobody at El Masry is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 33 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Hassan Ali 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 were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Walid Salah after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
8 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Sunusi Ibrahim
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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Masr El Makasa in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at El Masry that is a harder question to answer.
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.
1 for Hassan Ali, marked 7.83, 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.
Chances created: 14. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
Marked 8.15. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at El Masry.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at El Masry training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hassan Ali 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.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Walid Salah, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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 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.
Marked 8.10 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Walid Salah on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mounder Temine, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Hassan Ali 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ahmed Ayman Mansour’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and El Masry needing him to play as if none of it matters.
7.72, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Walid Salah after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Al Ahly.
4 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Al Ahly next, and one man in the El Masry dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“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.
$73.0K was the most the club would pay and Al Gaish were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
El Masry ran out of time with Arab Contractors. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.08, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Walid Salah left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at El Masry training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hassan Ali 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.
He is going to ES Setif, the club has $2.4M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
The clubs have shaken hands with Arab Contractors; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“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 deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 16 arrived, 6 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $87.5K — a club that wants Louay Wael enough to be asked twice.
El Masry have gone to Al Gaish 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Ahmed Waheb reports back to El Masry with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Abdo Nader 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 know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” ES Mostaganem had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“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.
1 for Baher Elmohamady, marked 7.93, 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.
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.
El Masry 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.
A 2‑0 win over Ghazl El Mahalla, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Walid Salah could afford to be generous.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” ES Ben Aknoun had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The offer from Ittihad for Mostafa Aboul-Kheir 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 name of Salah Mohsen has come up in conversations El Masry were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
El Masry 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.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then ENPPI scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Mahmoud Hamada scored, was marked 7.71, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
El Masry have gone to Zamalek 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.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.7M — a club that wants Juan Bezerra enough to be asked twice.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Masr El Makasa have kept their man, and El Masry go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
El Masry offered $200.0K; 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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 offer from ASO Chlef for Richardson Denzell 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 number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $222.5K — a club that wants Mahmoud Abou-Gouda enough to be asked twice.
The chase for Shikabala Soliman ended with $560.0K changing hands and Masr El Makasa out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
El Masry have gone to Arab Contractors 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.
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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ahmed 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ali Sobhi 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Sunusi Ibrahim has just signed for El Masry, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Dhafra have kept their man, and El Masry go back to a list with one name crossed off it.