The Red Devils have all but signed Gouna shot-stopper Sherif Ekrami, and he's likely to be given preference in the second half of the season.

Twenty-two-year-old Adel became Ahli's regular keeper after Amir Abdul-Hamid and Ramzi Saleh failed to fill the void left by the notorious departure of Essam Al-Hadari to Switzerland's Sion.

He seized the chance to turn from a third-choice keeper into a regular, thanks to a string of promising performances which were met with applause.

But now he's widely expected to play second fiddle to Ekrami starting January.

On paper Ekrami has more experience than Adel. He had stints in Holland and Turkey after he had parted company with Ahli over four years ago.

The 26-year-old, who came through Ahli's youth ranks, built a good reputation at Gouna in the first half of the ongoing season.

Although his performances were not all impressive, former Ahli prodigy Ekrami was overly acclaimed as a top-notch guardian after Gouna's 1-1 draw with Zamalek in the Egyptian Premier League.

Indeed Ekrami produced a display to remember in that match, but from my perspective he won more praise than he deserved after that single game.

Over the past years he barely featured either for Feyenoord or Ankaragucu, and then joined Gouna to play regularly for the first time in quite a while.

He had his ups and downs over the past few months with the coastal outfit, and can't really say he was any better than Adel.

So now Ahli are seemingly close to replacing a custodian, who has already proved his worth, with another who doesn't tangibly boast any extra capabilities.

I would say it's a risk, and it's not worth taking.

Adel is a young talent, and the best way to develop his skills is to keep his current status as it is.

He has established himself as a starter and as long as he fulfils his duties, his place between the sticks should be safe.

Demoting Adel to a deputy goalkeeper just to play another goalie would definitely see his form deteriorate, and could also prevent him from achieving his full potential in the long run.