Hibs forward Abdessalam Benjelloun set for £250,000 move to Al Ahly

Last updated : 19 July 2009 By Steve Forbes

benjiinteractive.jpg picture by 1875steve

Hibs striker Abdessalam Benjelloun is today on the verge of a £250,000 move to Egyptian side Al Ahly.

Benjelloun, 24, was supposed to report back for pre-season training at Easter Road 10 days ago, but has failed to appear, citing visa and passport problems.

He has spent the last 12 months away from Hibs on loan at Belgian clubs RSC Charleroi and Roeselare.

It now seems he has been trying to engineer himself a move away from Edinburgh, instead of returning to the Hibees £5m state-of-the-art training facility at East Mains.

An official statement on the official Al Ahly website reads:

"Negotiations between us and Benjelloun have reached an advanced stage and the transfer is expected to be completed very soon."

Hibs manager John Hughes is not impressed by the striker's no show, he said:

"Myself and Brian Rice have 50 years of experience between the two of us and you can't kid a kidder.

"I guarantee you that if it was Real Madrid he was playing for he would be over there for the first day of pre-season."

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