Zamalek sign nine players as key players leave: Club president

Ahram Online , Monday 4 Jul 2022

Zamalek Club President Mortada Mansour said on Monday that he has signed nine new players as part of the club's preparations for the next football season after serving a two-transfer window suspension.

File Photo: Zamalek chairman Mortada Mansour taken on 19 May, 2022. Photo courtesy of Zamalek Facebook page.

In May 2021, FIFA banned Zamalek from two transfer windows and fined the team $200,000 for signing youngster Hossam Ashraf after he had already signed for a Cameroonian academy.

Zamalek appealed the decision before the Court of Arbitration for Sport, only to see their demands turned down during the hearing held in October.

The summer transfer window in Egypt is expected to start by the end of the ongoing season next September.

“We signed nine new players in all positions. We can’t announce the names of the departed players because we are still competing in more championships,” Mansour said on television early on Monday.

In March, Zamalek announced they won't extend the contracts of Moroccan winger Achraf Bencharki, 27, midfielder Tarek Hamed, 33, and Egyptian international keeper Mohamed Abu Gabal, 33, after growing increasingly frustrated with their protracted negotiations with the key trio.

Bencharki left the club officially last week after his contract expired on 30 June.

“We turned the page on Hamed and Abu Gabal and we won’t extend their contracts with the club,” Zamalek’s chairman added.

“I plead with Zamalek fans not to insult any want-away players,” Mansour said.

“I wish good future for any player whose contract expires with team and wants to leave the club,” Zamalek’s president added.

The 70-year-old Zamalek chairman called last week for the immediate ending of the ongoing season of the Egyptian Premier League to allow the “exhausted players” to rest before starting the new season in August.

“If we stopped the league, Ahly and Zamalek won’t be affected as the duo already booked their place in the CAF Champions League,” Mansour said.

Zamalek are in the driving seat of the Egyptian Premier League table with 51 points, seven points over rivals Ahly who played three games less.

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