OFFICIAL: Al Ahly complete signing of Qatari defender Youssef Aymen

African champions Al Ahly have announced the signing of Qatari international defender Youssef Aymen from Al-Duhail SC.

Aymen becomes Al Ahly’s first summer signing as he joins on a season-long loan with an option to make the deal permanent.

Marcel Koller has been keen on signing a new defender for some time now and after losing Zineddine Belaid to Sint-Truidense, the club has decided to go for Ayman instead.

Aymen holds Egyptian citizenship which means he won’t take up a foreign-player spot in the squad, something which encouraged the Reds to complete the deal.

Moreover, Aymen was also a product of Al Ahly’s youth academy before travelling to Qatar to join ASPIRE Academy in 2009 and then spent his career over there.

The 25-year-old centre-back has been playing for Qatari giants Al-Duhail since 2017, spending some time on loan at Qatar SC, Al-Sailiya, and Belgian side KAS Eupen, before becoming a regular at his parent club since the 2022/23 season.

Last season, Aymen made 24 appearances for Al-Duhail, scoring twice and providing two further assists as the club finished sixth in the Qatar Stars League.

Overall, he represented Al-Duhail in 59 games in which he scored five goals, winning two Qatari league titles, one Qatari League Cup, and the Qatari Stars Cup in 2023.

On the international level, Aymen has eight caps to his name with Qatar and was part of their team at the 2023 Gold Cup, featuring in three games as the team made it to the quarter-finals.

However, he failed to make the 2023 Asian Cup squad, the tournament which Qatar won, but he returned to the team in the latest World Cup qualifiers, scoring against India in a 2-1 victory.

Aymen will become the second-ever Qatari to play for Al Ahly after Hussein Yasser, who played for the team between 2008 and 2010, joining from Sporting Braga, before leaving for arch-rivals Zamalek.