It's the Premiership or bust
for Egypt star Amr Zaki.
But any return to England next season is unlikely to be with
Wigan Athletic after the El
Zamalek striker's controversial season at the DW.
It was Wigan and then manager
Steve Bruce that introduced the Premiership's global audience to Egypt's biggest
name - and in those early months last term, Zaki didn't
disappoint.
"If I ended the season with the same level I started with, I
would have been the Premier
League's top scorer," declared Zaki last week,
angered by the short memories of critics who wrote off his first
season in England as a failure.
"People say that I didn't succeed but by looking at the number
of goals scored by top strikers in the Premier
league, we will notice that I was on top of the
scorers list for six weeks. I won the Man of the Match award around
nine times."
Zaki sensationally reveals that he would already be preparing
for preseason training at Villa Park, if not for Wigan's decision to keep hold of him during last
season's winter transfer market.
"Aston Villa offered £11
million to sign me in the first half of the season," admitted Zaki.
"However, Wigan refused to the compensation on offer as they had
hopes of signing me themselves before letting me join another club
later in order to make money.
"They did the same with (Wilson) Palacios, buying him for £1
million and selling him to Spurs for £14 million. It was impossible
for them to spend more than £6-7 million on me."
Zaki knows the score with Wigan and understood their decision to
resist Villa's move.
"Wigan is not one of the top four. All they want is to buy
players cheaply and then make money by selling them to other clubs
later. They would never pay ridiculous amounts of cash on me.
"Wigan's goal was to avoid relegation. Despite this, I always
played to win. When you compare the number of goals that I scored,
you will find me scoring more than (Chelsea striker Didier) Drogba
as an example.
"Many people wonder why I stopped scoring at Wigan. They felt
that I wouldn't be their player next season so they started to drop
me.
"Bruce wanted to play Mido and (Hugo) Rodallega, who are
expected to stay at Wigan next season. Why would he play me when my
price tag would hit the roof, then Zamalek would get the money and
not Wigan?"
Bruce, now in charge of Sunderland, declared last season that
Zaki's problems midway through the campaign came from the culture
shock of playing football in the cold, English winter. Despite the
criticism he attracted, from his form slide to going AWOL during
international call-ups, Zaki has been bitten by the Premiership bug
and is desperate for a return.
"I wish to stay in the Premier League. It will be very hard for
me to play in the Egyptian League after playing in world's number
one league: the Premier League," he adds.
Zaki's agent, Nader Shawqi said: "About the future, I can't name
any clubs for the time being but I can confirm that two French
clubs offered to sign Zaki.
"We have an offer from one of the promoted clubs in the Premier
League too.
"The problem is that Zaki wants to play in England. Also, French
clubs won't pay the same level of wages as Premiership clubs.
"The deal is expected to be a permanent one. Zaki won't like to
sign loan deals again.
"Zamalek officials are willing to let Zaki go permanently at the
right price."
Zaki's impact in England means a natural lift in profile - so
when Egypt coach Hassan Shehata accused the centre-forward of
clashing with teammates Mohamed Aboutrika and Mohamed Zidan, the
news made headlines around the world.
But the player was quick to deny reports last week and laughed:
"Coach Shehata is like a father to me. I never had a problem with
him. What was said regarding Zidan and Aboutrika was just a heated
talk.
"I always try to listen to other team-mates and tell the other
forwards instructions to help me while pressing on opponents. We
weren't doing this properly against Algeria.
"I was a little bit furious but this is not a major issue. It
always happens on the green field between players. I always call
Zidan and visit him. I visited him in Germany and he came to me in
England. We are very close friends.
"I can for focus within the national team. I have full faith in
our coaching staff. We have won against Italy and played a great
match against Brazil. We can win our remaining four matches in
World Cup qualifiers and make it to South Africa!"
And getting to the World Cup as a Premiership player, will be
part of the plan for Amr Zaki.