Al Ahly have sealed the signing of Ghanaian striker Abdul-Aziz Yakubu from Portuguese outfit Rio Ave on a four-and-a-half-year deal.
Al Ahly have been struggling up front, with Mohamed Sherif, Shady Hussein, and Hossam Hassam having a total return of three goals in 27 games combined.
Meanwhile, Percy Tau has seemed to have impressed head coach Marcel Koller; however the South African has only managed to play 198 minutes this season due to several injuries.
This led Al Ahly to look at strengthening their attacking line-up in the January transfer window which started with the signing of Etoile du Sahel forward Mohamed Dhaoui.
However, the 19-year-old is expected not to take up any foreign spot in the squad as he will be registered as a youth player, meaning Al Ahly can still bring in one more non-Egyptian player.
And the player has been revealed to be Abdul-Aziz Yakubu, who plies his trade at Liga Portugal outfit Rio Ave FC.
Al Ahly managed to reach a deal with Rio Ave over the Ghanaian for a fee of around €2,5 million, with the player putting pen-to-paper on a four-and-a-half-year deal.
This season, Aziz has scored six goals and provided three assists in the Liga Portugal, incuding a famous brace against FC Porto which saw the club win 3-1 at home last August.
His six league goals see him sit fifth on the scoring charts, just three goals behind Porto star Mehdi Taremi and Benfica prodigy Gonçalo Ramos.
Moreover, the player didn’t miss a single game in their league campaign, scoring and assisting against the likes of Sporting Braga and Benfica.
He also scored further two goals in the League Cup against Farense, taking up his tally to eight goals and three assists in 15 games across all competitions.
The 24-year-old has been playing in Portugal since 2016, having moved to Vizela’s youth ranks from Ghanaian club Charity Stars, before being promoted to the senior team just one year later.
In August of 2018, Aziz was loaned out to Vitória de Guimarães, who signed him permanently a year later, but the forward player mainly for their B team for whom he scored 11 goals in 28 games.
A loan spell at Estoril Praia saw Aziz break into the scene after scoring 15 goals to help them win the Liga Portugal 2 title and reach the semi-finals of the Portuguese Cup.
Following his return to his parent club, Aziz was loaned out once again to Rio Ave, who he also helped win the Liga Portugal 2 title and earn promotion to the top tier with 14 goals.
Impressing at the Estádio dos Arcos, Rio Ave made the loan deal permanent just last summer when they splashed the cash and paid €1 million, the club’s second-most expensive signing.
Despite being their top scorer this season, Rio Ave decided to cash in on Aziz and invest in their squad as they sit in a respectable seventh place on the league table.
