Source: Daily_Mail
Amr Zaki blasts Wigan as Wolves, Birmingham and Burnley make move
Amr Zaki has hit out at Wigan Athletic for scuppering his chances of joining Aston Villa in an £11million deal.
The Egypt striker says Martin O'Neill's men made the bid in the first half of last season, before his form took a nosedive at the JJB Stadium.
But he says Wigan rejected a pay-off that would have seen his one-year loan signing from Zamalek scrapped, therefore clearing his path to Villa Park.
The 26-year-old is desperate to stay in the Barclays Premier League, and his agent claims one of the promoted clubs have made an offer, though he would not identify whether it was Birmingham City, Burnley or Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Jump like an Egyptian: Amr Zaki celebrates a Wigan goal - before Christmas of course
Zaki told the Birmingham Mail: 'Aston Villa offered £11m to sign me in the first half of the season. However, Wigan refused to get compensation as they had hopes to sign me and let me join another club later in order to make money.
'They did the same with (Wilson) Palacios, buying him for £1m and selling him to Spurs for £14m.
'Wigan are not one of the top four. All they want is to buy players for cheap and then make money by selling them to other clubs later. They would never pay ridiculous amounts of cash on me.'
Zaki scored 11 goals in 32 appearances for Wigan last season, but didn't hit the net at all in 2009.
His agent Nader Shawqi said: 'About the future, I can't name any clubs for the time being but I can confirm that two French clubs offered to sign Zaki. We have an offer from one of the promoted clubs in the Premier League too.'
