Abdel Zaher El Saka, the veteran defender, has been a new victim of racism. This time, his new coach Samet Aybaba prevented the centre back from training and said anti-Arab statements about him which angered the supporters who made a press conference and asked the club board to sack the racist coach.

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Coach Samet Aybaba

As EP stated, Egyptian centre back Abdel Zaher El Saka is on his way out of Genclerbirligi in the coming transfer window, possibly to Konyaspor who are in need of an experienced defender and were about to sign El Tabei but the latter preferred to sign for Bursaspor.

El Saka was prevented by the new coach Samet Aybaba from attending training sessions with the rest of his teammates. The club supporters backed El Saka against the new manager which angered Samet Aybaba who stated to the press:

"They prefer an Arab over me"

After this unexpected racist statement, supporters club Alkaralar held a press conference in which they stated:

"Mutual respect is our goal, it is more important than trophies and wins."

"It is not acceptable by any mean to hear such racist statement from Samet Aybaba and we ask the club board to sack the coach for his irresponsible act of racism".

El Saka's agent Alper Gokdemir also commented on the issue by saying:

"El Saka is a model for professionals and his attitude is always exemplary. There is nothing new regarding his future at the moment. I refuse to comment over Aybaba's racist comment about Saka's ethnic origin and I believe that the whole Turkish society is against him now".

It should be noted that El Saka wasn't the only Egyptian to be a victim of racism this season as his compatriot Mido was subjected to Islamophobic taunts from Newcastle support a few weeks ago.

EP will keep you updated as the story develops...

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