Egyptian clubs have only themselves to blame for failing to sign good foreign players because they hardly know that there is a job called 'scout'. There are many foreign footballers in the Egyptian Premier League but few of them made a notable impact. Apart from Ahli's Angolan duo Flavio and Gilberto, Gaish's Ernest Papa Arko, Ismaili striker Mostafa Karim and ENPPI defender Manu there isn't an extraordinary foreigner within the ranks of Egyptian clubs. But you can find lots of players who arrived for hefty transfer fees but failed to prove their worth and were subsequently shown the door. The reason for that is quite clear. Clubs are not willing to exert efforts and implement a scouting system that could bring them talented and cheap players who can turn out to be stars in the future.
Egyptian clubs deal with agents who know nothing about football They instead deal with agents who know nothing about football and whose only concern is to receive money regardless of the player's quality. Does any club know that there is a competition called African Nations Championship taking place in Ivory Coast? This competition is designed exclusively for local-based players and is a showcase for unknown talents but none of our clubs seem interested in watching those games. Big clubs like Ahli and Zamalek do not even send scouts to watch lower Egyptian teams in action. They wait until a fringe player becomes prominent and then fight each other for his signature. The result is the player's value becomes much higher than his worth. The majority of clubs, consequently, fail to make the most of the three places available for foreign players in their squad.
