Nottingham Forest striker Junior Agogo, is probably sunning his backside on some far flung beach with a wry smile on his face at the moment and thinking to himself that everything is going to plan.
The last six months have been a pretty fantastic time if your name is Manuel ‘Junior’ Agogo. He left for the African Cup of Nations Tournament at the end of January as top scorer for the Reds’ and upon his return at the end of Feb, he was still the clubs top scorer.
Whilst away on international duty with Ghana, he was fast becoming a national hero and was proclaimed the ‘Prince of Nottinghamshire’ for his endeavours on the pitch. Back in his hometown of Accra, he was far from being an average third division footballer. As well as helping Ghana to a third place finish, he also ended up as his countries joint top scorer alongside Portsmouth’s Sulley Muntari. Not only had he become the toast of Ghana and a national hero, he even awoke one morning to find an 80 year old man waiting in his hotel lobby, offering his granddaughter as a present for his wife. All in a days work for Junior Agogo.
As the world’s press were clamouring to interview the newly crowned Prince of Nottinghamshire, Junior made no secret of his desire to ‘play at a higher level’ and made the most of his moment in the sun. Those comments made to Sky Sports News didn’t go down too well back home, especially as his form took a bit of a dip on his return. He never really regained the form he had shown just before he left and then carried with him into the ACON, but then in his defence, better players than him have suffered the same following a big tournament.
Despite his loss of form following the ACON, he still finished the season as top scorer for Forest. The reputation that he built up for himself in Ghana seems to have had the desired effect, with a host of clubs after his signature, although maybe not the ‘higher level’ teams he was searching for.
The last seven days have been anything but dull for the ‘Prince’. He’s been travelling the world representing his country, safe in the knowledge that his agent(s) are hawking his wares to the highest bidder. We have heard he’s supposedly signed for Egyptian side El Zamalek from Cairo, but not before their arch rivals Al Ahli pulled the plug on a deal to sign him. Apparently a deal with Al Ahli was all done and dusted when they pulled out, claiming our Junior had lied about his age. They claimed he was 33 and not the 28 he and Forest claimed. That all seems to have been sorted though and a deal with El Zamalek is supposedly done.
But the story doesn’t end there, oh no. For it now transpires that Agogo has more than one agent and the deal with Zamalek is far from done. Depending on what source you believe, he’s either signed already and will be unveiled as a Zamalek player next week in Cairo, or the offended agent will put the Curse of Tutankhamen on the deal and ruin Junior’s day. To complicate matters further, any deal for Junior depends on Wigan Athletic signing Zamalek star man Amr Zaki. That looked to be done and dusted, but that now looks to have hit the rocks, at least temporarily. If it all goes according to the Prince’s plan, we will all be compensated for his departure with an incredible £1M+ fee! That should soften the blow a bit.
Special thanks to Cholo for keeping us all informed with the antics in Cairo this week. We’ll do our best to keep tabs on this ever changing, but nonetheless enthralling tail. You can check out part of the saga HERE
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