The quiet Nantes summer that stopped being quiet
A 5-0 win over Fleury in the first friendly. Michel Der Zakarian back on the touchline, a face everyone at La Joneliere knows. Recruitment that fit a club aiming to climb straight back up. For a few weeks in June, the summer around Nantes had the feel of a well-run pre-season, the kind nobody writes about. Then one name jammed the whole thing: Mostafa Mohamed.
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Gone since the players reported back
Training resumed on 24 June. The 28-year-old Egyptian striker was not there. He was not there the next day either, or the one after, and he never sent word to explain why. Der Zakarian was asked about it on Thursday and made no effort to soften his answer. Nobody at the club knows where the player is. The calls go to voicemail. As far as the head coach is concerned, this one lands squarely on Mohamed, and if he would rather not show up for work, he can sit at home.
Finding that home is the tricky part. To keep tabs on their own player, Nantes have been reduced to scrolling Instagram. Late June, the Egypt international, who missed the last World Cup, was posting from Cape Verde. After that, nothing. Messages, calls, every channel the club could think of, all met with silence.
A first for the Kita family, and the sanctions have started
Twenty years running the club and the Kitas had never seen this. Waldemar Kita rated the striker, a player who arrived from Galatasaray for 6.5 million euros and had been reasonably popular. That goodwill is spent. A letter now goes out to the former Zamalek man every single day, each one telling him the same thing: no work, no wages, for as long as this drags on.
Frustrated, but not about to give him away
The people running Nantes are not fooled. Privately, they assume Mohamed is playing a game tied to a move he has never openly asked for. They also paid real money for him and have no interest in watching him leave for free. There is a catch. No floor price has been set, and everyone in the building knows he has a single year left on his deal, which quietly chips away at any leverage they might have had.
Nothing has landed on the desk so far. That fits. He was dreadful last season, the club went down to Ligue 2 on his watch, and a striker with that recent record is not exactly lighting up phones around Europe.
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The stands had already turned
Even setting the football aside, few at the Beaujoire will be shedding tears over the empty shirt. Mohamed’s standing with a chunk of the support had cracked well before this, most sharply when he refused to play in fixtures backing the fight against homophobia. That call drew heavy criticism and it stuck.
If he comes back, the reserves are the only way in
So how does it end. Nobody can reach the player, and he has still not put a single word on the record about where he has been. Should he walk back through the gates at La Joneliere, the club has already drawn the line. National 2 reserves, get fit, earn the shirt again. Nantes are making their point, and it is not a subtle one. Experience buys you nothing here if you decide the rules do not apply.
in your pocket.
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