Career
Hafez made his top flight debut at 30 August 2014 against Waasland-Beveren in a 2-0 away defeat. At 20 September 2014, he scored his first league goal against K.V.C. Westerlo in a 6-1 away defeat. On 2 August 2015, Wadi Degla travelled to Athens to negotiate the transfer of Karim Hafez to AEK Athens, and an agreement was expected to be reached over the next few days.
The 19-year-old Egypt left-back will join the eleven-time Greek champions on loan for a season, with the option to extend the loan for two additional seasons, Lierse South.K. announced on their official website.
Karim Hafez made his debut for Lierse South.K.’s senior side last season and was one of the club’s star performers, scoring three goals in the Jupiler Pro League. Hafez is expected to travel to Greece to sign his contract with AEK Athens before heading to Poland to link up with his new teammates at their training camp.
Maged Samy, the owner of both Wadi Degla and Lierse South.K., traveled to Athens to negotiate the transfer and the clauses of the contract, with both sides confident an agreement would be reached. The initial agreement set the ground for the 19-year-old left back to join AEK Athens on loan for a season, with the option to extend the loan for two additional seasons, Lierse South.K. had announced on their official website last week.
However, according to our Greek sources, the move has taken a negative turn due to disagreements in clauses of Hafez’s contract.
Wadi Degla requested two clauses in the transfer that AEK Athens immediately objected to First, the Cairo-based club sought the option of first choice for Degla to decide if the player should be sold in case of an offer by another club Second, they wanted to be paid an amount of around €500,000 if AEK were to qualify for the Champions League in the 2016-2017 season.
The disagreements regarding the transfer were only augmented when Lierse South.K. announced the basis for the transfer on their official website, despite the fact the clauses had not been finalized, which AEK Athens did not take kindly to