Saudi club Al-Ittihad is set to open talks with Egypt's Zamalek to sign forward Mahmoud “Kahraba” Abdel-Moneim on a permanent basis. Kahraba, on a one-year loan from Zamalek to Ittihad Jeddah, was the hero when he scored his team's only goal against rivals Al-Nasr on Friday to clinch the Saudi Crown Prince Cup title; his first trophy with the Saudi giants. "We will not let him go. Kahraba is one of the club's key elements and we will start negotiations with Zamalek to sign him permanently, especially as there are only six matches left in the current season," Al-Ittihad's president Hatem Baeshen said in TV statements after the match. The 22-year-old Kahraba, who joined Al-Ittihad in the summer of 2016, did not take long to quickly prove his worth in the Saudi league, scoring 15 goals; 13 in the league and two in the cup competition. After seeing the outstanding performances by Kahraba with the Saudi team this season in January, Zamalek's president Mortada Mansour put a 40 million Euro price tag on the talented winger. However, Zamalek raised the selling price after Friday's achievement by the Egyptian international. "Kahraba's goal in the Saudi Cup final raised his price tag to 100 million Euros," Mansour told ON Sport TV Channel, adding that “the goal gave Al-Ittihad the title after 13 years of absence.” "We received a lot of offers from Arab clubs to sign the player in the upcoming period." Despite the high price tag set by Zamalek, Al-Ittihad still hope to keep the services of Kahraba. "They have the right to set the player's price, but a link shouldn't necessarily be made between Kahraba staying and Mansour's statement," Al-Ittihad's president said. Al-Ittihad currently lie fourth of the Saudi league table with 41 points, 12 behind leaders Al-Hilal. (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)
