Amr Zaki: Premiership or bust

It's the Premiership or bust for Egypt star Amr Zaki.

But any return to England next season is unlikely to be with Wigan Athletic after the El Zamalek striker's controversial season at the DW.

It was Wigan and then manager Steve Bruce that introduced the Premiership's global audience to Egypt's biggest name - and in those early months last term, Zaki didn't disappoint.

"If I ended the season with the same level I started with, I would have been the Premier League's top scorer," declared Zaki last week, angered by the short memories of critics who wrote off his first season in England as a failure.

"People say that I didn't succeed but by looking at the number of goals scored by top strikers in the Premier league, we will notice that I was on top of the scorers list for six weeks. I won the Man of the Match award around nine times."

Zaki sensationally reveals that he would already be preparing for preseason training at Villa Park, if not for Wigan's decision to keep hold of him during last season's winter transfer market.

"Aston Villa offered £11 million to sign me in the first half of the season," admitted Zaki. "However, Wigan refused to the compensation on offer as they had hopes of signing me themselves before letting me join another club later in order to make money.

"They did the same with (Wilson) Palacios, buying him for £1 million and selling him to Spurs for £14 million. It was impossible for them to spend more than £6-7 million on me."

Zaki knows the score with Wigan and understood their decision to resist Villa's move.

"Wigan is not one of the top four. All they want is to buy players cheaply and then make money by selling them to other clubs later. They would never pay ridiculous amounts of cash on me.

"Wigan's goal was to avoid relegation. Despite this, I always played to win. When you compare the number of goals that I scored, you will find me scoring more than (Chelsea striker Didier) Drogba as an example.

"Many people wonder why I stopped scoring at Wigan. They felt that I wouldn't be their player next season so they started to drop me.

"Bruce wanted to play Mido and (Hugo) Rodallega, who are expected to stay at Wigan next season. Why would he play me when my price tag would hit the roof, then Zamalek would get the money and not Wigan?"

Bruce, now in charge of Sunderland, declared last season that Zaki's problems midway through the campaign came from the culture shock of playing football in the cold, English winter. Despite the criticism he attracted, from his form slide to going AWOL during international call-ups, Zaki has been bitten by the Premiership bug and is desperate for a return.

"I wish to stay in the Premier League. It will be very hard for me to play in the Egyptian League after playing in world's number one league: the Premier League," he adds.

Zaki's agent, Nader Shawqi said: "About the future, I can't name any clubs for the time being but I can confirm that two French clubs offered to sign Zaki.

"We have an offer from one of the promoted clubs in the Premier League too.

"The problem is that Zaki wants to play in England. Also, French clubs won't pay the same level of wages as Premiership clubs.

"The deal is expected to be a permanent one. Zaki won't like to sign loan deals again.

"Zamalek officials are willing to let Zaki go permanently at the right price."

Zaki's impact in England means a natural lift in profile - so when Egypt coach Hassan Shehata accused the centre-forward of clashing with teammates Mohamed Aboutrika and Mohamed Zidan, the news made headlines around the world.

But the player was quick to deny reports last week and laughed: "Coach Shehata is like a father to me. I never had a problem with him. What was said regarding Zidan and Aboutrika was just a heated talk.

"I always try to listen to other team-mates and tell the other forwards instructions to help me while pressing on opponents. We weren't doing this properly against Algeria.

"I was a little bit furious but this is not a major issue. It always happens on the green field between players. I always call Zidan and visit him. I visited him in Germany and he came to me in England. We are very close friends.

"I can for focus within the national team. I have full faith in our coaching staff. We have won against Italy and played a great match against Brazil. We can win our remaining four matches in World Cup qualifiers and make it to South Africa!"

And getting to the World Cup as a Premiership player, will be part of the plan for Amr Zaki.

 
- Courtesy EgyptianPlayers.com.