The Ittihad squad went on strike recently due to their unpaid wages, before falling out with the new board led by chairman Essam Shaaban.

After Sari took over from Mohamed Amer at the weekend, the Ittihad board demanded an apology from the first-team players, who eventually refused the request.

Consequently, the former Egypt international was left with no option but to prepare for the league restart with the youth team.

Sari is facing a stern challenge to keep Ittihad in top flight after the Alexandrian giants finished the first half of the season bottom of the league table with 11 points from 15 games.