In the past weeks, Middle Eastern football fans were enjoying the return of the big Gulf leagues.
The Saudi Pro League and the Qatar Stars League - but in the last weekend, it was the Egyptian Premier League which returned to action, and as usual - producing its memorable stories.
Al-Ahly and Ramadan Sobhi: It Is Complicated
CAF’s Club of the Century has returned in style from the forced break of the coronavirus. A 2-0 victory over ENPPI, thanks to goals by Mohamad Hany and Ali Mâaloul, has seen the Ahlawys widening the gigantic gap in the Egyptian table to 17 points, from the second-ranked Pyramids.
On Wednesday, the club has announced its new home ground - Al-Salam stadium will now be named Al-Ahly Stadium, after it has been through a massive rebrand and redesign procedure.
At the same time, another story emerged regarding the almost eternal champions of Egypt and their star, Ramadan Sobhi.
Sobhi was playing for Al-Ahly on-loan from English club Huddersfield in the past season and a half. The 23-year-old winger grew up in Al-Ahly and was one of the most exciting names to come out of Egyptian football, when he signed for Stoke City in 2016, only two years after his professional football debut.
‘Ramadona’, as by his nickname, was always beloved by the Al-Ahly fans. Aside from the fact he was born and raised as an Ahlawy, his ‘showboating’ style of play, especially the ball-standing incident he committed against Zamalek in 2015, earned him with a new popularity status among the club’s fanatics.
Unfortunately, Sobhi has failed to have the same impact in England. He started at Stoke, who later sold him to Huddersfield for €6.5m and returned to Al-Ahly on loan from Huddersfield in 2018/19. He failed to make a significant impact at Al-Ahly, generating only 36 appearances in all competitions for the club.
On Wednesday, reports claimed that Sobhi, who was just about to make his move to Al-Ahly a permanent one, has expressed his desire to move to Pyramids, Cairo’s newest club and a one that Al-Ahly had a public feud with over the past two years.
According to reports, Pyramids are willing to pay £4.8m for Sobhi. Egyptian media outlet, Filgoal, claimed that Sobhi will play for Pyramids and even posted an edited photo of the player in the turquoise and white stripes. Pyramids are already hosting a bunch of ex-Ahlawys, as Abdallah Said, Ahmed Fathy, Ahmed Hamoudi and Afsha.
Pyramids, who was the brainchild of Turki Al-Sheikh, are now on the verge of becoming part of the City Football Group, per Yallakora.
Sobhi should be back in England to train with Huddersfield, yet the word is that he will be a Pyramids’ player in 20/21. Meanwhile, Al-Ahly has reportedly taken off all Sobhi’s figures from their posters and branded signs at the Al-Ahly Stadium.
Tunisian Clubs Set to Fly with Qatar
During the past days, different sources reported about the possibility of the Qatari air carrier, Qatar Airways, to become the new sponsor for Tunisian mega club, Club Africain. In other reports, it was mentioned that the company is also negotiating with another Tunisian club, CS Sfaxien.
If even only one of those deals materialised into a real sponsorship, this would have a tremendous impact on the Tunisian and African football map.
Photo via Al-Ahly official Twitter account.
