Ismaili midfielder Ahmed Fathi hit out at the club's president Yehia Al-Koumi for trying to block his imminent move to Premiership side Sheffield United through his 'strange demands'. Fathi told FilGoal.com late on Thursday that Al-Koumi wants to add a clause in the contract that deprives Sheffield of their right to sell him without Ismaili's approval. Al-Koumi has also set a condition that whenever the 22-year-old returns to Egypt he can't join Cairo giants Ahli or Zamalek. "I don't know what he wants, I have already arrived in England to finalize the deal and wore the number 23 kit but Al-Koumi's U-turn put me in a very difficult situation," Fathi added. Sheffield reached an agreement with Ismaili to sign the Egypt international midfielder for 700,000 Sterling Pounds (EGP 11 million) but the new developments could halt the move. "The president doesn't answer my phone calls and insists on his conditions which Sheffield reject."
"If I wanted to join either Ahli or Zamalek I would have done so at the beginning of the season before extending my contract for three years," Fathi said. Fathi has also revealed that Al-Koumi told him to return to Egypt in case Sheffield don't listen to his conditions. Sheffield manager Neil Warnock praised the versatile Fathi earlier on Thursday. "He's 22 and is a nice type of lad who knows what the English game is all about," he told the club's official website. "He'll get stuck in, has an eye for a pass, can score a few goals as well, although I'm not going to expect too much of him."
