Wigan Athletic must wait until late June to complete the signing of Zamalek striker Amr Zaki.
"We need to find a close match for Zaki before letting him go," Zamalek chairman Mamdouh Abass said in the Wigan Evening Post.
"There is no player in Egypt who could have led us to the cup final except for him. We are going to make a final decision by June 22."
Wigan boss Steve Bruce is understood to want Zaki on an initial loan deal with a view to signing him permanently for £6million next summer.