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It has been a roller coaster 12 months for Mahmoud Wadi. This time last year he had put a turbulent first season with Pyramids FC behind him and was the top scorer of the league through seven match days with five goals in six games and another goal in the CAF Confederations Cup.
Then things took a turn for the worse. An injury meant that the Gazan missed a crucial month of action in the CAF Confederations Cup. Pyramids went to the transfer market and completed a deal for Fagrie Lakay whose form relegated Wadi to the bench upon his return.
Things would go from bad to worse for the striker when manager Ehab Galal was given his marching orders in April. Under the stewardship of Takis Gonias Wadi played a mere eight minutes and was frozen out from all competitive action since May 1st of last year.
The lone bright spot in the last 12 months was Wadi’s role in helping Palestine qualify for the 2023 Asian Cup. That too did come with a fair bit of pain as an injury early in the second half of the match vs. Yemen ruled him out for the rest of the qualifying tournament. His replacement, Saleh Chihadeh, would go on to score twice and force an own goal.
A six month loan move to Tala’ea El Gaish represent a vital lifeline for the forward who needs playing time and confidence to reach the heights that convinced Pyramids to splurge 1 Million Euro for his services back in 2020.
“I thank Pyramids for the time I have spent with them even though I will be back [after the loan period ends]” said Wadi in an interview with OnTime Sports.
Tala’ea El Gaish finished fourth in spite of scoring an anemic 27 goals over a 34 game season. That goal haul was the fourth lowest in the league in 2021/22- two relegated teams managed to score more goals in that period. Things have not gone to plan in 2022/23. Over the first 13 games the team now lies in 13th place and have already conceded 21 times. That regression has to do with the fact that the El Gaish has received over 3.5 Million Euro for the services of the defensive spine of last year’s team: Goalkeeper and Mohammed Bassam and Right Back Ahmed Hany now play for Cleopatra, defensive midfielder Mohanad Lasheen has moved to Future FC. While his fellow midfield partner Amr El Sisi moved to Zamalek along with the team’s best center back Mostafa El Zenary.
That exodus did not spare manager Alaa Abd El Al who was sacked in November and replaced by Mohammed Yousef who won the CAF Champions League with Al-Ahly back in 2013.
“Over the last year I did not receive the minutes I wanted and I was looking for an opportunity to play more. Tala’ea El Gaish reached out to me and presented the vision they had… Tala’ea El Gaish has good attacking pieces and a good manager and this was the ideal situation for me. Moving here is an opportunity for me to regain my form and come back even stronger.”
Wadi’s main competition for playing time will be the 34 year old Khaled Kamar the only #9 who has produced consistently (three goals and two assists this season). The veteran is unable to go the full 90 minutes, giving Wadi an opportunity to integrate into the team as a supersub from the get-go.
Tala’ea El Gaish is in action again on January 18th against Ismaily SC.
