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BREAKING NEWS: Mido banned from Ajax-1 for remainder of season

28 February: A new episode has been added to the story of the conflict between Mido and coach Ronald Koeman. Due to Mido's remarks in several interviews about his 20 February disciplinary punishment, Koeman and technical director Leo Beenhakker decided to remove the Egyptian from the Ajax-1 squad for the rest of the season.

Mido was banned from the squad on Thursday 20 February. The reason was not revealed by Ajax, but appeared in the Dutch media the following day: after the Eredivisie home game against FC Groningen, the Egyptian striker had failed to show up for a meet-and-greet with a number of Ajax sponsors. Much to Ronald Koeman's annoyance Mido sent Nourdin Boukhari on his behalf.

The reports were confirmed by Koeman, who added a second reason for his decision, stating that he was too frequently dissatisfied with Mido's attitude during training.

In a first reaction, Mido stated that he accepted the disciplinary penalty, but that he did not see what he had done wrong. Coach Koeman decided to add the Egyptian to the squad for Ajax vs Arsenal after the squad had explicitly requested it.

Against Arsenal, on Wednesday, Mido was brought into the team as a substitute. After the game, he made provocative remarks about the affair to several Dutch journalists. The quotes appeared in the media yesterday and today. In newspaper Het Parool, for example, the striker stated that he did not see what was wrong in not showing up for a sponsor meet-and-greet: "So what? Football is not about sponsors."

In an interview with newspaper Algemeen Dagblad, published this morning, he replied thusly to a question about whether he had apologized for his behaviour: "You apologize when you have done something wrong, which I didn't. We talked, the squad and I. We talked. That is a different thing."

Koeman and Beenhakker have granted Ahmed 'Mido' Hossam permission to go to Egypt for a week. After that, he is to go back in training with John van 't Schip's Young Ajax squad until season's end.

Ahmed 'Mido' Hossam joined Ajax in the summer of 2001, coming from Belgian First Class side AA Ghent. He since played 57 official games for Ajax, in which he scored 23 goals. This season he scored 9 goals in 16 Eredivisie games, which makes him the current topscorer of Ajax.

In total, it is the fourth time for Mido to get banned from the team for disciplinary reasons. Koeman and Beenhakker have announced that they will not comment on the affair before this weekend's Eredivisie home game against Vitesse. (MP)

(Sources: Ajax.nl, Het Parool, Algemeen Dagblad)