Did Zamalek lose the services of Youssef Obama?

After 248 matches, more than 50 goals, more than 25 assists and achieving 12 championships, Youssef Obama is preparing to leave Zamalek Club during the current summer transfer period after completing his agreement with Pyramids Club on a free transfer.

Obama (28 years old) did not reach an agreement to extend his contract with Zamalek, which ends at the end of the current season, so he finally decided to move to Pyramids Club with a contract that may extend for 3 seasons, according to what the WinWin website learned.

Former Zamalek captain Khaled El-Ghandour took to his Facebook page to criticize the giants of Mit Oqba for letting Youssef Obama go, writing, “From my point of view, Youssef Obama’s departure from Zamalek is a big mistake. He is a good player who can score goals, and you will not be able to bring in a better Egyptian player than him.”

Here the question arises: Has Zamalek really lost the services of Youssef Obama?

What did Youssef Obama offer this season?

During the current season, Obama participated in 31 matches with Zamalek, during which he scored 11 goals and did not make any assists. All of his goals were from open play and in all tournaments, with 8 goals in the Egyptian League, one goal in the Egypt Cup, and two goals in the Confederation Cup.

7 of the 11 goals came in the last two months, but some of the player’s goals throughout the season were decisive, such as his goal against Arta Solar in the second leg of the Confederation Cup preliminary round, which contributed to a historic comeback for Zamalek, and the winning goal against Abu Salim of Libya in the opening match of the group stage.

The player is Zamalek’s top scorer in the Egyptian League this season, excluding penalty kicks, with 8 goals, knowing that he was expected to score 4.5 goals, in other words, he scored more than 3 goals above expectations.

This is because the player was very successful in converting his shots into goals, as he shot 10 times between the three posts and scored 8 goals, with a conversion rate of 33%, which is the best percentage of converting shots into goals for Zamalek in the league this season.

Did Zamalek lose Obama’s services?

Obama’s 11 goals, all from open play, is not a small number in Egyptian football. Some may consider that he has scored a lot recently and is not under pressure after Zamalek was eliminated from the league competition, but the player, as we mentioned, scored some decisive goals.

But looking at a broader picture, Obama in the last two seasons before the current season, that is, from the 2021-2022 season, played 48 matches and scored only 3 goals.

Zamalek have two of their new signings in Obama’s position, Nasser Maher and Ahmed Hamdi, and also Abdallah El-Said can play behind the striker.

It is true that Nasser Maher and Abdullah Al-Saeed play in the same position as Obama, but Obama is a different type as he is closer to the second striker (the scorer) than a playmaker like Al-Saeed and Maher, so he did not make any decisive passes this season and his number in creating chances is low.

This is what Obama was referring to as a second striker and not a playmaker as the comparison above shows; the yellow colour means superiority in playmaking statistics, which is what Abdullah Al-Saeed and Nasser Maher excel at.

During the current summer transfer period, Zamalek will need to sign a clear striker with a good scoring record and a left winger who is a goal scorer and penetrates the penalty area and provides the extra role that Youssef Obama used to provide inside the opponents’ penalty area.

Then he will not have lost Obama’s scoring record, as there will be diversity in the attacking line with the presence of a strong striker and scoring wingers “Zizo, the new left winger and the new striker” and he has two of the best playmakers Nasser Maher and Abdullah Al-Saeed.

But if Zamalek does not succeed in bringing in offensive reinforcements that “score goals” more than they create them, Zamalek will miss Youssef Obama.