CAIRO: Ismaili chairman Nasr Aboul-Hassan played down reports suggesting that Hosni Abd-Rabou would move to Egyptian champions Ahly next summer.
The Egypt midfielder has joined Ahli Dubai on a two-year loan deal in the summer of 2008, and he is returning to Ismaili by the end of the ongoing season.
It was said that the coastal side would allow Abd-Rabou to sign for Cairo giants Ahly, provided that the six-time African champions drop their lawsuit against Ismaili goalie Essam Al-Hadari.
However, Aboul-Hassan vehemently denied the media reports which he described as “baseless rumors , assuring that Ismaili have every intention of holding onto Abd-Rabou.
I really don t know who circulate this kind of baseless rumors, Aboul-Hassan told FilGoal.com.
We are not planning to offload Abd-Rabou and we are definitely not involved in Ahly s problems with Al-Hadari.
In 2008, Egypt s first-choice goalie Al-Hadari left Ahly without the club s consent to join Switzerland s Sion, which caused him to incur the wrath of the Red Devils officials and fans alike.
After Ahly lodged a complaint against the 36-year-old guardian, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) initially handed him a ?900,000 fine and a four-month suspension.
However, CAS froze the sanction upon Al-Hadari s appeal. The Swiss-based court is yet to return a final verdict.
The in-form custodian joined Ismaili last summer after a dull spell at Sion.
Al-Hadari won t be banned. There will be a fine which Sion will have to pay, so why should we call on Ahly to drop the lawsuit? Aboul-Hassan elaborated.
The Ismaili president also refuted talks that Abd-Rabou would join Ahly on a part-exchange deal that would see benchwarmers Ahmed Belal and Osama Hosni move in the opposite direction.
If we had wanted to sign an Ahly player, we would have directly contacted the club s board, Aboul-Hassan added.
There is no swap deal on the cards.
Ahly were close to landing Abd-Rabou in 2007, but his transfer turned into a huge public scandal after he reportedly received death threats from some of Ismaili s ardent fans.
Afterwards, both clubs got into a severe judicial dispute. French outfit Strasbourg, where the international ace plied his trade from 2005 till 2007, were also involved in the infamous transfer saga.
Abd-Rabou eventually rejoined Ismaili, before moving to Ahly Dubai on a loan basis.
The holding midfilder s contract with Ismaili runs out in the summer of 2011, and thus he won t be able to seal a move at the end of the current season without the Dervishes approval.
