South African forward Percy Tau has been dropped from Al Ahly’s 21-member squad to face El Gouna FC in an Egyptian Premier League match at El Salam Stadium on Sunday evening.
The former Mamelodi Sundowns star appeared to be in line for selection following his return to full training on Friday after recovering fully from an injury.
However, Al Ahly coach Ricardo Soares believes the Bafana Bafana player is yet to regain his shape to warrant competitive football this weekend.
The Portuguese coach has, however, recalled Mozambican winger Luis Miquissone who resumed full training with the Al Ahly squad on Friday.
The struggling Cairo giants are desperate for a win, smarting from back-to-back losses to Pyramids and Zamalek.
Tau’s career in Egypt has been hampered by injuries and, with it, loss of form. He has registered just eight goals from 26 games across all competitions since his switch from Brighton and Hove Albion last August.
The future of the Bafana Bafana player has been a subject of transfer speculation now that coach Pitso Mosimane, who signed him from Brighton, resigned from Al Ahly in June.
Soares replaced Mosimane, who spent two trophy-laden seasons but was the subject of stinging criticisms from some Al Ahly legends.
Soares has not had the best of starts to his reign either after losing twice, winning two games, and drawing once across all competitions.
Al Ahly are in third place on the log table with two games in hand while lying nine points behind the leaders Zamalek who face Smouha also on Sunday evening.
El Gouna are in position 14 on the 18-member log table.
Al Ahly squad for El Gouna game:
Mohamed El Shenawy, Aly Lotfy, Mostafa Shobier, Mahmoud Metwally, Ramy Rabia,Yasser Ibrahim, Hamdy Fathy, Hossam Hassan, Walid Soliman, Ayman Ashraf, Amr El Soulia, Salah Mohsen, Mohamed Magdy “Afsha”, Mahmoud Wahid, Ali Maaloul, Mohamed Abdelmonem, Karim Fouad, Luis Miquissone, Mohamed Hany, Ahmed Abdelkader, Mohamed Fakhry.
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