Monday 18 January 2010

Zaki's in


Amr Zaki could be a brilliant signing, or a calamitous one. Either way he will evoke much interest as he pulls on amber for the remainder of the season following his arrival on loan at the KC Stadium today.

Zaki memorably, and rather painfully, scored twice when Wigan Athletic gave us a severe pummelling in August 2008, prompting tiresomely predictable headlines about an alleged "wake-up call" for the impudent new team of the Premier League.

The stocky and sharp Egyptian ended up putting away ten goals for the Latics in 29 games, a most worthy statistic indeed. Yet his richness in form on the field was tempered by his utter denseness off it, when he managed to avoid meeting manager Steve Bruce's deadline for returning from international duty no less than four times. Bruce called him "the most unprofessional" player he had ever worked with and chose not to take up an option to sign him permanently at the end of the season. Interest waned from elsewhere after Bruce's stinging rebuke, and Zaki went back to Zamalek, his club in Egypt.

So, how will his attitude fare with Phil Brown? This question makes the slightly wild assumption that Zaki has not improved his approach to his livelihood since Bruce issued his tirade, which is unfair. Brown, however, is not one for suffering fools or indulging wildcard characters - although he has been wrong in some of his acts of punishment as much as he has been right - but one assumes that Zaki's personality has been researched prior to offering him a new chance to show his worth all over again in the Premier League.

He has skill, a real eye for goal and the capacity for the unexpected, which gives him three things over Craig Fagan already. His purplest patch for Wigan was alongside Emile Heskey, so maybe there is potential for a Zaki partnership with Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, and that signing him is as much about justifying a starting place for the gangly Dutchman as it is replenishing a misfiring strike force.

Zaki is only just in training and may not be ready until the crucial visit of Wolverhampton Wanderers to the KC on January 30th. Missing the Manchester United game will be a major disappointment to him personally but, like Jimmy Bullard, his presence is less than likely to influence the final result and it's the targetted games where Zaki needs to be fit and focussed. If he comes back to England a little more mature than when he last jollied up over here, he could prove to be an invaluable and astute bit of business by the Tigers.