Upon their return from Nigeria after facing Enyimba in the African Champions League semi-final first leg, Ahli came back to Cairo with a 0-0 draw as well as the possibility of signing a new striker. Marketing director Adli Al-Qaeyi confirmed that the club are holding advanced talks with Enyimba striker Stephen Worgu, and the Nigerian club's president also said that the two clubs have agreed a fee for the player. Worgu is yet to officially sign for the Red Devils but it seems the striker is set to join Ahli in January. With a brilliant record of 13 goals in the Champions League for Enyimba this season, it's undoubted that Worgu will be a great addition to any team he plays for. However the real question is, do Ahli really need another striker? The club already have Flavio Amado, Ahmed Belal, Osama Hosni, Ahmed Farag, Hani Al-Egeizi and Mohamed Abou-Treika who can all play up front. Considering the fact that coach Manuel Jose usually plays with one striker in front of Abou-Treika, will the addition of a seventh attacker be useful to the team? Both Al-Egeizi and Farag are two strikers for the future. They've shown a promising potential with former clubs Baladeya and Mahalla. Al-Egeizi crowned his Ahli league debut by scoring twice against Petrojet, and Farag produced good displays in the very few minutes he played so far. They are two players whom if given enough opportunities can be regular internationals within a year or two. But with Worgu arriving, it seems both won't be playing that much for Ahli anymore.
Considering the fact that coach Manuel Jose usually plays with one striker in front of Abou-Treika, will the addition of a seventh attacker be useful to the team? It's a repeated story to what happened before to players Ahli strived to sign. Players like Ahmed Galal, Amr Samaka, Mohamed Abdallah and even Hussein Ali all joined for big money transfers after beating competition from various interested parties. But where are these players now? What happened to their promising starts? They simply vanished because they didn't play. Ahli bought them just to replace them few months on. It just makes you wonder what bases do Ahli buy players upon? Now I really can't blame some fans who accuse the club of buying players for no other reason than they wouldn't play for Ahli's competitors. The club buy players simply because they can afford it rather than fulfilling the squad's needs in every position. We can all see the current defensive woes at Ahli but surprisingly no new centre backs were brought in. The bigger problem is that this policy makes the country lose brilliant talents every year. Players like the mentioned above rust without playing, and after a while all they can afford is leave Ahli for a lower club after losing the form of their lives. It should be a national responsibility for Ahli, why ruin a player's career after seeing he can be one of the country's best scoring talents?
