Bilic: Hegazi surprised West Brom coach with move to Ittihad
West Bromwich Albion coach Slaven Bilić was angered by Hegazi's sudden move to Saudi Arabia as he intended to play him against Brighton.
Egyptian defender Ahmed Hegazi has completed his loan move to Saudi Arabian side Al-Ittihad without the knowledge of West Bromwich Albion coach Slaven Bilić, which put the Baggies boss in a very embarrassing situation.
Hegazi completed his move to Al-Ittihad 24 hours prior to West Brom's Premier League fixture against Brighton leaving his former coach, who was planning on starting him, clean out of options.
Bilić started Hegazi in his team's match against Burnley after he had recovered from injury with the Egyptian completing 90 minutes, reinforcing his position as one the pillars of the team's defensive line.
English newspaper The Mirror revealed that Hegazi's departure left Bilic fuming to the extent that his future at the Hawthorns is in question as he will find it tricky to find a substitute.
Al-Ittihad offer was hard to turn down
The article also revealed that West Brom felt they could not say no to the offer as they earned a four-million pound fee for a one-year loan deal in addition to saving 3.5 million pounds on the player's salary.
Rumors had been circulating recently around a possible move to the Saudi Arabian league for Hegazi, but his agent denied talks with any club affirming that his player was happy in the Premier League and wasn't planning on leaving.
Ironically Hegazi is joining the same club that sacked Bilić 18 months ago due to poor results.