African champions Al Ahly are nearing the signing of Moroccan defender Achraf Dari from French club Stade Brestois.
Al Ahly were in desperate need of a new defender following the imminent departure of Mohamed Abdelmonem to OGC Nice.
It’s understood that Al Ahly’s head coach Marcel Koller was not satisfied with any domestic defender, which forced the club to look for a new foreign name to join the squad.
The choice was put on Stade Brestois’ Achraf Dari and after a competition with the player’s former Wydad Casablanca, the Reds managed to seal his signing.
Dari will sign a four-year contract with Al Ahly and is expected to arrive in Cairo in the upcoming hours to finalize the deal, according to the player’s father.
The 25-year-old defender moved to Stade Brestois from Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca in July 2022 for a reported fee of €2.7 million, making 24 appearances for the French club.
However, Dari struggled for game time last season and had to spend the second half of the campaign out on loan at Belgian side Royal Charleroi, for whom he scored three goals in nine games.
Dari is also no stranger to Al Ahly fans as he was part of the Wydad Casablanca team that beat the Reds in the 2022 CAF Champions League final.
He will now reunite with another member of the famous Wydad team in Yahia Attiyat Allah, who joined Al Ahly on a one-year loan deal with an option to buy earlier this summer. Moroccan winger Reda Slim also plays for Al Ahly.
Dari was part of the Morocco squad who created history by finishing fourth in the 2022 World Cup, scoring in the third-placed playoff against Croatia.