“Ashour received an offer to join FC Midtjylland a week ago and we talked to him to stay,” Mansour told the club’s TV channel early on Monday.

“I want him to stay and we will sign a new lucrative contract with him like what we did before with his teammate Zizo, but he wants to play abroad. I still oppose his departure, but we cannot stand against his desire,” the president of the Egyptian Premier League champions added.

The 24-year-old Ashour joined Zamalek from Ghazl El-Mahalla in the summer of 2019, playing a prominent role in the Whites’ midfield since the departure of Tunisia's Ferjani Sassi in the summer of 2021.

Ashour had previously been contracted to remain with Zamalek through 2025.

He has played 102 games with Zamalek, scoring 15 goals and providing 11 assists. He won the Egyptian Premier League twice and Egypt Cup title with the Cairo giants.

Ashour has courted controversy during his time with Zamalek, receiving a number of penalties from the Egyptian Football Association (EFA), including a 12-game suspension in 2021 for chanting offensive slogans against arch-rivals Ahly.

“We received a EGP 105 million offer for Ashour, who deserves hundreds of millions actually. I can continue to reject but he can leave for free next January,” Mansour explained.

“I will give him until tomorrow morning and if he insists on leaving I will sign the contract immediately,” the chairman concluded.

Ashour insisted during a phone call with the club president on the same TV show that the offer is a golden chance, asking Mansour to accept it.

“Sure I do not want to leave, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance and Zamalek does not stand against his players. Zamalek is my home and I will not play for any other club in Egypt,” the international player added.

Ashour was a member of Egypt’s U23 squad that won the African Cup of Nations in 2020. He made his debut with the senior national team in November 2021, playing nine games with the Pharaohs so far.

FC Midtjylland currently lie in the 17th place of the Superliga [the highest football league in Denmark] table with 23 points from 17 matches, 12 points behind leaders Nordsjaelland.

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