Zamalek chairman Mortada Mansour says that he will allow the team's former star Mahmoud "Shikabala" Abdel-Razek to return to the team,provided fourconditions are met.
Shikabala, who left Zamalek to join Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon for a season on loan last winter, met with the team's management and technical staff before he left to discuss payment of his salary, which had been delayed. The player had made his dispute with the club’s management over his late pay public, issuing a number of statements to the media on the topic.
The Zamalek chairman in a statement on Friday asked the player to apologise to the management and the team's fans before rejoining the team.
Mansour also asked Zamalek coach Hossam Hassan to sign an authorized document that would guarantee the player's behaviour both inside and outside the club.
The 28-year-old forward was previously the highest paid player on the squad, but this time Mansour has demanded that Shikabala take a pay cut so that his salary is brought in line with that of the other players.
Shikabalahas also been in contact with Zamalek’s hardcore fan groups, who are currently in a public dispute with Mansour. The chairman asked Shikabala to stop his dealings with them if he wants to rejoin the team.
Mansour’s comments come after Sporting issued a statement on the player's behaviour hinting that he would return to Egypt having failed to meet the Portuguese side’s expectations.
Sporting Lisbon also decided not include Shikabala in their Europa League squad following his failure to return to the team after playing a friendly against Ittihad of Alexandria in August. He had claimed he had not completed the necessary military paperwork and so could not leave Egypt.
Shikabala has been included in the Egypt national squad that will face Senegal in the 2015 African Cup of Nations qualifiers next Friday in Dakar.
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