By Staff Reporter,

The dream of any footballer in Africa is to move Abroad and join the paid ranks however that was not exactly what Ethiopia’s talented player Umed Ukuri found out when he joined Al Ittihad in the Egyptian league upon signing to join them from local side St.George

Its been a harrowing moment for Umed whom the club failed to pay for a record 3 months until he decided to pack his bags together with Zambian Felix Katongo.

That was the beginning of Umed’s problems and he immediately wrote to FIFA to try and resolve the impasse that was threatening his career however he got a short reprieve getting a temporary ITC that enabled St.George to re-sign him for 6 months but he never played for them but was glad his salary issues were sorted by the club he had given many years of service.

For 4 months Umed did not play any football and speaking exclusively to Soka25east.com upon return to Egypt this week after starting for Ethiopia Walia Ibex in their Afcon 2017 game against Lesotho,the soft spoken player explained his position saying he had deciced to withdraw the complaint against Al ittihad in FIFA and seek an settlement as he wished continue playing football rather than the case dragging on .

“Its been a harrowing time for me in the last 6 months but atleast I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel.After my problems at Al Ittihad I wrote to FIFA concerning my issues and they gave me a temporary ITC to join St.George but I could not play for them as I came when they only remained with afew matches”

“However its been 4 long months that I failed to play competitive football until the game against Lesotho but after clear looking at my career I decided to withdraw the case I had filled against Al ittihad to settle the matter amicably and they were very positive about it rather than let the issue drag while I am out of football”Umed told Soka25east.com

“We are in very fruitful talks and I know the problems we had are almost being sorted out and I will be back to playing the game I love most that is football rather than have issues drag me down once again” he added

Soka25east.com has realiably learnt that Al Ittihad are planning on selling Umed Ukuri to either Zamalek or Al Ahly as they still own the players rights.The temporary ITC that enabled him sign a short 6 months contract with St.George ends on June 30

Collins Okinyo

Ex- CAF Media Expert. An expert on African football with over 15 years experience ,always with an ear to the ground with indepth knowledge of the game. I have worked for top publications including 7 years at www.supersport.com until i founded www.soka25east.com to quench the thirst of football lovers across the continent. I have trained young upcoming journalists who are now a voice in African football.I have covered World Cup,AFCON,CHAN,Champions League,Confederations Cup,Cecafa,Cosafa,Wafu and many other football tournaments across the World. Founder Football Africa Arena(FAA),Founder www.afrisportdigital.com