Where's Wally - The Egyptian Version

I just can’t believe the same man who single-handily ripped apart the Man City defence at the JJB back in October and applauded all three home stands at the end, getting a standing ovation in return before being the last to leave the pitch, is now portraying himself as a selfish, greedy and unprofessional person. Amr Zaki became an instant hero with Wiganers after his goal scoring exploits at the start of the season.

So what’s all the fuss about then? Well, Wigan Athletic manager, Steve Bruce, labelled Zaki as the ‘most unprofessional player I have ever worked with’ after he failed to return from international duty – for the FOURTH TIME this season. Although he got injured while he was back in Egypt, FIFA rules state that the player must return back to his club, so they could check him out, as they are his employers (well the one who pays his wages, as he’s on loan) and have every right to do so. The Egyptian FA were also supposed to send a scan of his injury right away, which they didn’t.

The mystery deepens as Zaki’s international teammate and fellow Latics striker, Mido, returned home easily and played in Sunday’s defeat to Everton. Also new Latics midfielder, Won Hee Cho, returned to England from Korea suffering from a far worse injury than Zaki, which keeps him from making his debut until next season. Plus he had to get tested for DVT when he came back! Egypt is a lot closer to England than Korea or South America, from where Latics have had a number of players return on time. So something quite clearly, doesn’t add up.

I can only assume that it’s something in Zaki’s personal life that has affected him. He spent a season on loan in Russia, at Lokomotiv Moscow, without playing a single game before returning to Egypt. He citied the fact that he couldn’t ‘settle in’ as the main reason he failed in Russian football. But England is totally different and I can’t see how he’s not settled in with all the help the club has given him.

His form started to dip around December – not scoring in open play since his double against Liverpool at Anfield in October. Many people have said that he ‘won’t like it when it gets cold’ – and they were right! But the weather is no excuse, we’re in April now and the weather has been okay. It’s not even that bad in winter anyway!

It seems the ploy of signing his fellow Egyptian, Mido, hasn’t worked either. The pair were believed to have had a ‘bust up’ during last international break. Is there anything in that? I hope not but if there is, then it’s one perfect excuse for Zaki to use.

His agent isn’t helping matters. Although he has been in regular contact with the club he hasn’t shifted on anything and reckons Wigan should allow Zaki time off because ‘he’s done a lot for the club’. I suppose the open goal he missed at, (ironically) Man City, which would have earned us a valuable point, didn’t register with him.

At the end of the day, Wigan are in the right. They’ve already fined him this season and it obviously has no effect on the man. A permanent deal is now unlikely and Zaki is rumoured to be interesting Harry ‘I’m not dodgy – honest’ Redknapp and his Tottenham Hotspur side. The two deserve each other!

Zaki is due for talks with Bruce tomorrow, Good Friday, which I wonder is another irony? I fully expect Zaki to now profess his love of the club on Easter Sunday and his resurrection would be complete.

I just hope Latics fans don’t boo or sing any idiotic songs. For one, we don’t know the full story and can only speculate at this point. And two – we aren’t Newcastle fans, so we should never abuse one of our own players while he’s still here and having the misfortune to be injured.

If that’s he’s real excuse…