Zamalek explain youth decisions as technical assessment leads to four departures

Zamalek board member Hussein El-Sayed says decisions over which young players will remain with the first team for the new season were made solely on the recommendation of manager Moataz Gamal and his coaching staff.

FilGoal.com has learned that Zamalek have decided to release four members of the club’s youth set-up: Anas Wael, Ahmed Magdy, Abdelrahman Kamal and Ayman Amir Abdel Aziz.

El-Sayed said the club’s policy was to assess players who had reached the end of their youth eligibility, including those born in 2005 and 2006, according to the needs of the senior squad and the manager’s view.

“The club selects players who have finished their age-group stages, such as those born in 2005 and 2006, according to the needs of the first team and based on the manager’s vision,” El-Sayed said in comments published by Zamalek’s media centre.

He added: “The primary criterion in selecting players is the technical aspect. This is a matter for the coaching staff, without any other considerations from the club.”

Under the current system, each club can promote a limited number of young players before the start of every season. El-Sayed said Zamalek were permitted to select five players, a rule also applied to all clubs whose participation in the national youth championships has ended.

“The main objective is to choose players capable of helping the team, given that there is a set number of players – five players for each club – who can be promoted before every season,” he said. “This is applied at all clubs whose participation in the youth Republic Championship competitions has ended.”

Several of the young players were included in the senior side’s training camp before the final decisions were made. El-Sayed said those appearances were intended to give the coaching staff a closer look at the players and allow them to demonstrate their ability before the club decided whether they would remain with the first team.

He said: “The participation of some young players in the team’s camp before they were taken out of consideration was intended to give the coaching staff the opportunity to monitor these players closely, while also giving the players a chance to prove themselves before the final decision was made on whether they would continue with the team or not.”

El-Sayed insisted that the club remained committed to its youth players and rejected the suggestion that the departures were based on factors beyond football.

“All the decisions were made according to a purely technical vision, without any other calculations,” he said. “Zamalek are keen to look after their players, and the evidence is that the first team currently includes seven players born in 2005, 2006 and 2008: Mohamed Ibrahim, El-Sayed Osama, Mohamed El-Sayed, Ahmed Khodary, Youssef Wael, Mohamed Hamad and goalkeeper Omar Abdel Aziz.”

Anas Wael and Amir Abdel Aziz had trained with the first team in recent weeks before the club announced its decision to part company with them. Anas Wael, a former Zamalek player, subsequently launched a strong attack on the club’s officials after confirming that his time with the team had ended.

Zamalek are currently holding a pre-season training camp in the New Administrative Capital.

The Cairo club are preparing to compete in the Egyptian Premier League, the Egypt Cup, the Egyptian League Cup, the CAF Champions League and the Egyptian Super Cup during the new campaign.

Their season will begin with a league fixture against Al Ittihad Alexandria in the opening round of the Egyptian Premier League.

Zamalek were crowned Egyptian league champions last season, securing the title for a 15th time in their history.