Karim Hafez

Karim Ramadan Hafez (Arabic: كريـم حافظ‎‎; born 12 March 1996) is an Egyptian professional footballer, who plays for French club Lens, on loan from Belgian club Lierse, and the Egypt national team as a left back.

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.Karim Hafez played for Lierse S.K.’s senior side and was one of the club’s star performers, scoring three goals in the Jupiler Pro League yet he couldn’t save the club from relegation, but the Wadi Degla product’s form didn’t go unnoticed as he was called up to the national team by Egypt’s Argentine manager Héctor Cúper, and made his debut for the Pharaohs in June, coming off the bench in a 2-1 friendly win against Malawi.

Maged Sami, the owner of both Wadi Degla and Lierse S.K., traveled to Athens to negotiate the transfer of Hafez to AEK Athens, and an agreement was expected to be reached over the next few days. The 19-year-old Egypt left-back would join the eleven-time Greek champions on loan for a season, with the option to extend the loan for two additional seasons, Lierse S.K. announced on their official website. Both sides were 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 S.K. had announced on their official website. 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 S.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.

Player now plays for French club Lens on loan from Belgian club Lierse.