Zamalek football director Ibrahim Hassan says that Hazem Emam is aiming to join Ahli in the not-too-distant future. It was reported weeks ago that the Red Devils were trying to coax the talented winger into signing for them, but he strenuously denied the reported interest. Emam, who has just been punished by the White Knights for going AWOL, is planning a move to Ahli in utter secrecy, Hassan believes. The 22-year-old, who was promoted to a first-teamer last season, has been unable to train regularly for quite a while. He put his recurrent absence down to 'personal issues', but Hassan assured that he was making excuses to discuss a possible Ahli deal with an unnamed agent. "He was skipping training and we made allowance for him before we realized that he was tricking us," Hassan told Egyptian radio. "We know that he agreed with some agent to seal a move to an Austrian club, and from there he should move to Ahli." Magic Spell Hassan stated that Emam's behavior was inexplicably weird, which prompted doubts that he was under the influence of a magic spell. "We have been tight-lipped about his irresponsible acts, out of fear for his own future as a professional footballer," Hassan narrated. "He was acting really strange of late. He kept asking us incessantly for permission to leave training camps, he was literally crying so as we let him go! "After many failed attempts to bring him back in training, we brought a (Muslim) cleric to read some verses of the Qur'an, but to no avail. "We first thought that someone had cast a spell on him, but now we are fed up to the back teeth with what he's been doing. "He has been bluffing the whole time."
