CAIRO: Zamalek will keep hold of their prized asset Shikabala this season despite a severe financial crunch at the Cairo side, said football director Ibrahim Hassan.
The highly-rated forward was tipped to leave his boyhood club in the near future, amid fears over the deficit Zamalek are suffering from these days.
A deal for Shikabala would generate quite some money that the Whites direly need, however; they refuse to let him go any time soon.
"The coaching staff completely refuses the idea of offloading Shikabala this term," Hassan told FilGoal.com.
"The team are developing and we are seeking to be in contention in the competitions we are participating in.
"Therefore, we want to hold onto all our players."
Shikabala repeatedly announced his desire to move to a European outfit over the past few months, with Belgian duo Anderlecht and Standard Liege among his suitors.
Nevertheless, Hassan assures that the 24-year-old, who once stressed that he would like to join Anderlecht, has been successfully talked into staying put.
"We will inform the board that he’s going nowhere. We coaxed him into remaining a Zamalek player," Hassan added.
Last week, Zamalek interim chairman Galal Ibrahim revealed that his side are deep in debt, which fuelled speculation that their star players will be looking to depart.
"We have around $35,000 in cash in the meantime," life-long Zamalek fan Ibrahim, whose tenure should end in the summer of 2011, told CNN Arabic.
"For this reason we are struggling to extend the contracts of some players, as well as making new deals."
According to the figures released by Ibrahim, Zamalek’s debts had risen to over LE 100 million.
