Essam Serag El-Din, Head of the Deals Sector at Al-Ahly Club, revealed the behind-the-scenes story of the beginning of his career within the Red Fortress, highlighting the role several figures played in giving him the opportunity to work in the youth sector before he assumed various administrative and commercial positions within the club.
Essam Serag El-Din stated in remarks via Al-Ahly TV: "Abdel Aziz Abdel Shafi gave me the greatest opportunity in the club's youth sector, until I became the Director of Public Relations and Marketing for this sector. At that time, Captain Hassan Hamdy was the club president. My journey began in the sector, after which I became the Commercial Director and then the Contracts Director."
Serag El-Din also spoke about his relationship with Kamal Darwish, former president of Zamalek Club, and Dr. Ashraf Sobhy, Minister of Youth and Sports, saying: "Kamal Darwish supervised my academic research, and Dr. Ashraf Sobhy was alongside him. Later, I became the Assistant Minister of Youth for Marketing and Investment. We worked on youth centers with Ashraf Sobhy after he invited me to work with him at the ministry, achieving significant financial figures over four or five years, reaching 4 billion Egyptian pounds."
Details of Al-Ahly's Sales
The Al-Ahly Contracts Director addressed his first tenure at the club, noting the achievement of substantial financial returns from selling several players.
He clarified: "During my first term at Al-Ahly Club, we achieved numerous sales. We sold Ivouna for $10 million at a time when the dollar exchange rate was rising, marking the highest return from selling a player in the history of Egyptian football."
He added: "There were also other financial returns we worked on, including the sales of Ahmed Hegazi, Ramadan Sobhi, and Trezeguet to Anderlecht in Belgium."
The Ali Maaloul Deal
Serag El-Din revealed the behind-the-scenes details of signing the Tunisian player Ali Maaloul, confirming that the deal was unusual compared to typical procedures at Al-Ahly Club.
He said: "Ali Maaloul was one of the most prominent players I worked to sign, representing a major addition for me. However, he had a strong connection with the fans. His contract included a release clause. It is not Al-Ahly's usual practice to pay release clauses to sign any player, but in Ali Maaloul's case, we did so."
Mohamed El-Shenawy as the First Signing
Serag El-Din indicated that Mohamed El-Shenawy was the first player he signed during his work at Al-Ahly Club, stating: "The first deal I negotiated at Al-Ahly was for Mohamed El-Shenawy. There was flexibility and smoothness from the Petrojet board of directors to finalize the signing with the player."
The Head of the Deals Sector at Al-Ahly discussed the mechanism for selecting players within the club, explaining that the signing process begins through a specialized committee responsible for scouting talents and outstanding players.
He said: "Normally, there is a scouting committee working to discover talents in the domestic league and globally. We cooperate with them to sign players. We operate according to a vision set by Sayed Abdel Hafeez and Yassin Mansour, and ultimately report back to Captain Mahmoud El-Khatib."
Serag El-Din concluded his remarks by revealing the nature of his role once a target player is identified, saying: "When the technical manager requests to sign a player for a specific position, we recommend some players we have previously observed. After he selects the player he wants, my role begins. This role is economic and practical to finalize the deal. I must know the price range of the player and provide my economic opinion, but ultimately, the decision rests with the technical manager."
