Amr Zaki[]
Amr Hassan Zaki (born 1 April 1983, in Mansoura) is an enigmatic Egyptian striker who really can’t be arsed to play for Wigan.
Zaki was one of the unexpected stars of the first part of the 2008-09 Premier League season when he couldn’t stop scoring for Wigan.
However, Latics boss Steve Bruce was left shaking his huge head when the striker proved himself to be completely unable to return from international duty with Egypt on time.
Unlike countryman Mido, who resents having to play for his country, Zaki sees internationals as a great chance to get as far away from Wigan as possible.
On five occasions Zaki was late back from international engagements and in April 2009 he crawled back nearly a month after he had been expected.
‘It takes ages to get from Egypt to England,’ Zaki moaned. ‘I’ll be back for the next game or definitely the one after that.’
Zaki racked up nearly £80m in fines but the player claimed on Egyptian TV that he had made peace with Bruce. “I apologised to him and we ended up laughing,” he said.
Days later Bruce tried to kill the wayward striker with an axe, a bruised Zaki laughed off the assault as ‘a friendly prank.’
Soon enough Zaki will sign for Manchester City or Everton or someone.