The Egyptian FA have ended their hunt for African Cup of Nations winning coach Herve Renard, who wasfavorite to take charge of Egypt due to financialdisagreements. "We were in talks with Renard during the African Cup of Nations and he initially asked for €50 thousands as a monthly salary. But after winning the cup and receiving offers from the Gulf he wanted €85 thousands in addition to 20 thousand for his assistants," the Egyptian FA vice president Hassan Farid said during a TV show on Monday. "It means that the coaching staff will cost us one million Egyptian pounds per month, in addition to providing accommodation and a car and that is beyond our capabilities," he added. The French tactician – who became the first coach to win the African Cup of Nations with two different teams (Zambia 2012 and Ivory Coast 2015) - was a frontrunner to take over Egypt after Shawky Gharib had stepped down last November. The Egyptian FA have announced their intention to hire a foreign coach and unveiled a five-man shortlist that included Renard, Alain Giresse from France, Georges Leekens from Belgium, Uli Stielike from Germany and Frank Rijkaard from Netherlands. "Leekens renewed his contract with Tunisia and Stielike wants to remain with South Korea. Giresse and Rijkaard (both free agents) are still available but personally I think an Egyptian coach would be better," Farid said. Farid has revealed that with the option of the national coach back on the table, Hassan Shehata has become a shoo-in for the job. "We need a coach with African experience and a good knowledge of Egyptian football and in that matter I think Shehata is better than Giresse and Rijkaard. They would need time to put the players through their paces and that might be a problem due to our current situation," Farid concluded. The domestic competitions have been suspended since the killing of 20 supporters from Zamalek on 8 February while trying to enter the Air Defense Stadium to attend a league game against Enppi.It is not clear when football activities will resume. Meanwhile, the Pharaohs need to start their preparation for the 2017 African Cup qualifiers, which start in June and will be followed by the 2018 World Cup qualifiers in October. (For more sports news andupdates, followAhramOnlineSportson Twitter at@AO_Sportsand onFacebookatAhramOnlineSports.) http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/123774.aspx
