The transfer market is a term used to portray the movement of footballers or managers from one club to another and the money transactions involved in the process, but in Egypt, it's more like a grocery store. How often do we hear that a player or a manager in the Egyptian league has agreed a move to another club and then the other day a dramatic change pops up out of nothing? Egyptian players are hardly settled on a decision and some club boards do not include work ethics, or any sort of respect or even professionalism in their agenda. Only in Egypt, a player can sign a contract with three different teams and then leaves the matter to the club boards to sort it out in a 'friendly way', without being exposed to any possible sanction. A few examples out of many… -Zamalek star Shikabala handed in a transfer request and then got slammed by the media and fans, so suddenly he backed down claiming his full loyalty to the Whites. -Geddo, Egypt's CAN 2010 hero, admitted signing a contract with Zamalek in January, revealed he wants to move to Europe, and then said he would not play for any club in Egypt other than Ittihad. Eventually, no offer from Europe arrived and Geddo neither joins Zamalek nor stays with his 'beloved' Ittihad, but all of a sudden signs for Ahli! -Zamalek outcast keeper Mohamed Abdul-Monsef changed his mind over a dozen times throughout the past couple of seasons and his future is still unclear, even though he wants to leave and the Cairo club are keen to sell him.
Al-Hadari, Saied, Abd-Rabou, Geddo and Meteb are all key Egypt players who were involved in abnormal transfer stories. -The latest story was presented by Ismaili defender Moatassem Salem, who said last season he 'must' move to a Cairo club for personal reasons, so Ahli and Zamalek tabled their bids for the international center-half. Ahli made the higher offer and the player welcomed it, rejecting Zamalek, but the Ismaili board blocked the move for a reason they only know, so eventually the player stays…for now. -Last season, ex-Ismaili defender Sherif Abdul-Fadil was the subject of an intense transfer battle between Ahli and Zamalek. The player accompanied his agent to Zamalek club to complete a deal, but is then forgotten for seven hours waiting for the 'contracts to be registered'! Eventually, the irritated Abdul-Fadil thought, since he had already made the trip to Cairo, why not switch the course and visit Ahli, who wasted no time signing the center-half. -Back to the summer of 2008; Emad Meteb, Egypt's number one striker, was the hero of a transfer story that only happens once every century (probably in Egypt). Meteb signed a club-record deal with Barnsley, but then he decides to play a one last (official) match with Ahli, only for the English club to cancel the deal. Essam Al-Hadari's notorious Sion move, Hani Saied's u-turn on Zamalek and Hosni Abd-Rabou's saga with Ahli are other shocking stories involving 'key Egypt players' who symbolize the messy situation. Expect more from this summer's transfer supermarket, exclusive in Egypt.
