Winning at football in the Middle East (page 5 of 5)

By his own admission as a youth Mido skipped school to play more football, with his father enticing him to play to win with 3 Egyptian pounds ($0.65) in reward money. That helped to complete the sting. "I bribed the postman (a friend of mine), who was supposed to bring letters from the school to my parents' house.

Therefore, my parents never found out that I was never at school," Mido said in an interview posted on his own website.
Mido is a player with the requisite knack for goal scoring and the stature -189.5 centimeters - to last in professional football. He has described his style as similar to that of Dutch international Patrick Kluivert. He also likes Argentine international Gabriele Batistuta's game.

Mido may in time join the football legends. He says Arsenal, Juventus and AS Roma have shown interest in him, and Liverpool is also reported to have made inquiries. Luciano Moggi, the general director of Juventus, is said to have offered $18 million for him. Mido has opted to stay put with Ajax, stating his interest to allow his talents and skills to ripen. Sensible given Ajax's global reputation for nurturing young players, and that the bottom has fallen out of the European transfers market.

To be great Mido will need to tame his arrogance enough to take onboard important lessons from past and present masters of the game. The finer grade of football player is a result of hard work and steady development. Mido has shown an appetite for hard work, but it looks as though he will need a leash to keep on track. He is in familiar company at Ajax with fellow Arab Hatem Trebelsi, a Tunisian.

Mido is not yet renowned as a world-class player, but he is certainly in the upper echelons of European club football and can look forward to a decade of further development. So far he has taken a pragmatic approach to his career.

He misses his homeland but speedily left Zamalek in pursuit of a career-enhancing opportunity. He announced his desire to leave Ajax - which he later withdrew - but he reportedly maintains an interest in moving to other clubs in the coming years when the time is right and he has furthered his development at Ajax. If the rebel yell is channeled, Mido could become, after Zinedine Zidane of France, the next global Arab sports megastar.