Trézéguet (Egyptian footballer)

Mahmoud Ahmed Ibrahim Hassan (مَحمُود أَحمَد إبرَاهِيْم حَسَن; born 1 October 1994), commonly known as Trézéguet, is an Egyptian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Süper Lig club Trabzonspor and the Egypt national team.

His nickname is taken from the French former footballer David Trezeguet, after his former youth coach noticed similarities between the pair in playing style and appearance.

He began his career with Al Ahly, breaking into the first team at the age of 18 and helping them win the 2012 CAF Champions League and 2013 CAF Champions League.

After being promoted to the senior squad by manager Manuel José de Jesus, on the advice of Maher, he made his professional debut in the 2012 CAF Champions League as a substitute in place of Mohamed Aboutrika in a match against local rivals Zamalek.

Jesus later described him as "one of the best youngsters he's ever came across."

He made his first start for Al Ahly later in the competition against Ghanaian side Berekum Chelsea.

Al Ahly went on to win the Champions League although Trézéguet did not feature in the final.

In April 2013, he was offered a trial for French side Nice after establishing himself in the first team at eighteen and playing in the U20 African Youth Cup, postponing the trial for a later date to help Al Ahly during an injury crisis that left them short of first team players.

He was later offered a trial with English side Nottingham Forest but the club pulled out of a potential loan transfer with an option to buy after being unable to meet Al Ahly's valuation, stated at £1 million by Al Ahly's director of football Sayed Abdel-Hafiz.

In December 2013, he was linked with Scottish club Celtic, who saw a bid of £420,000 rejected.

However, he later ended speculation over his future by stating his intention to remain with Al Ahly until at least the end of the 2013–14 season.

Having represented Egypt at under-20 and under-23 level, Trézéguet made his full debut for the Egyptian senior side in 2014 at the age of 19 in a friendly against Kenya.

After helping Al Ahly win the Egyptian Premier League title in the 2014–15 season, speculation over his future arose again after it was confirmed that they would "listen to offers" as the club began to experience financial difficulties The end of his season was disrupted after being ruled out for six weeks with a dislocated shoulder suffered during a 2–1 defeat to Tunisian side Club Africain.

In 2015, he joined Belgian team Anderlecht and the move was later made permanent.

However, he struggled to establish himself in the first team and spent the following two seasons on loan, first with fellow Belgian side Mouscron and later Turkish side Kasımpaşa.

In January 2015, he won the Best Egypt-based Player Award at the annual Youth and Sports Broadcasting annual gala.

Despite Al Ahly director of football Wael Gomaa stating his desire for Trézéguet to remain with the club, describing him as "one of the main elements of the team", on 6 August 2015, Trézéguet joined Belgian side Anderlecht on loan for a fee of €1 million, with Anderlecht gaining an option to sign him on a permanent basis after the season-long loan for a further €2.5 million.

His arrival at the club was disrupted by a broken shoulder sustained while training with his national team in the United Arab Emirates, ruling him out for several months after being forced to undergo surgery.

Anderlecht manager Besnik Hasi stated his disappointment in the disruption of the loan spell and admitted that it had been difficult for the club to analyse Trézéguet's ability.

Trézéguet returned to training in early December 2015, before making his competitive debut for Anderlecht on 27 December 2015 in a 2–1 victory over Westerlo when he replaced Dodi Lukebakio in the 82nd minute.

Following his debut, Hasi described him as having "great ability and the speed, and I can see a bright future for him."

He made his first start for the club a month later in a 2–0 defeat to Gent.

However, he was dropped from the side soon after with Hasi claiming that the language barrier was making it difficult for Trézéguet to understand the team's tactics, commenting "He is a diligent player and trains well with us so [...] but he rarely understands what we say," and that he was no longer considered the star player of the team as he had been with Al Ahly.

In March 2016, Anderlecht announced they were considering exercising their option to sign Trézéguet permanently from Al Ahly for a reported transfer fee of €2.2 million, despite only making seven league appearances in his first season.

In May the move was completed, with Trézéguet becoming the second most expensive sale in Al Ahly's history after Flávio Amado.

He enjoyed a prolific pre-season prior to the 2016–17 season, scoring four times, earning praise from new manager René Weiler.

However, the signing of Nicolae Stanciu prompted the club to offer Trézéguet out on loan to gain playing time, eventually joining fellow Belgian side Royal Excel Mouscron on a season-long loan deal.

In his first seven appearances for the club, he was directly involved in five goals, scoring two and assisting three including a solo effort against Gent after starting a run from inside his own half, leading manager Glen De Boeck to label him the "most talented player in our team."

Mouscron became embroiled in a relegation battle but Trézéguet gained praise for his performances from Anderlecht coach Jean-Francois Lenvain, who continued working with him during his loan spell, and led former Anderlecht player Wim De Coninck to call for Trézéguet to be recalled by Anderlecht to replace Stanciu, remarking "If he (Trézéguet) had the amount of chances Stanciu has now he'd be in a different place."

In the final match of the season, Trézéguet scored the opening goal of a 2–0 victory over KV Kortrijk that saw Mouscron overtake Westerlo to avoid relegation from the Belgian First Division A.

After featuring in the Europa League playoffs, he returned to Anderlecht at the end of his loan spell having scored seven goals during 28 appearances in all competitions.

Prior to his return, it was reported that Anderlecht intended to sell Trézéguet due to manager Wilder deeming him "not tactically disciplined", an opinion supported by Mouscron manager Mircea Rednic who commented "he runs in every part of the pitch except the part we need him to go to."

After returning to Anderlecht, Trézéguet was linked with transfers to Turkish side Galatasaray and his former club Al Ahly and even considered terminating his contract with the club.

He eventually joined Turkish side Kasımpaşa on a season-long loan deal with the club having the option to make the move permanent for €2 million.

With Kasımpaşa, he became the highest scoring Egyptian player in the Turkish top flight in a single season which prompted the club to make the transfer permanent in 2018.

He was named in Egypt's squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, playing in all three group matches.

To date, he has made 70 appearances for his country's national team, scoring 16 goals.

Born in Kafr El Sheikh governorate, he was given the nickname Trézéguet at age nine by Badr Ragab, a youth coach at his school team, due to his goalscoring record for the team and his shaven head appearance resembling the French international footballer David Trezeguet.

Playing as a striker, he joined the youth academy at Al Ahly after turning down an offer to move to Qatar.

He soon converted to playing as a midfielder in the youth academy following the advice of coach Ali Maher.