book their passage to South Africa. Club career Salahaddin Nashat Akram started his senior career at Salahaddin FC and made his debut in the 1999–2000 season under the coach Ammo Baba. He scored his first goal for Salahaddin in a 6–1 win over Al-Samawa in the 1999–2000 Iraq FA Cup on 3 January 2000. Al-Shorta In 2000, at age of 16, Nashat Akram transferred to Al-Shorta and made it into their first team, and from the first sight the analysts believed that Iraq would produce one of the most promising players in Asia. In 2001, he was loaned out to Al-Zawraa for their matches in the Asian Club Championship. In 2002, he became a regular starter with his team leading them to win the Iraqi Elite Cup and reaching the Iraq FA Cup final; unfortunately for the young star, they finished 2nd. After his great performance with Al-Shorta, Nashat Akram was called up to the Iraq Youth Team and later nominated for Asian Young Footballer of the Year. Nashat's Al Shorta finished third on 2 of the 3 season he spent at the club, and were leading the league in his final season before it was cancelled due to war. Al-Nassr In 2003, he signed for Al-Nassr after their newly appointed coach Yugoslav Ljubiša Tumbaković was in awe of Nashat's performance in the Emir Faisal Abdullah Friendship Cup in Abha in the 5–1 demolition of his side. Nashat has since seen three of his coaches at Al-Nassr replaced, Ljubiša Tumbaković, the Romanian Mircea Rednic, and the Egyptian Mohsen Saleh after less than a year at the club. He left the Saudi club due to wranglings over unpaid wages owed to him. Al Nassr finished 7th (out of 12) in his only season with the club. Al-Shabab In 2004, Nashat signed with the giant club Al-Shabab; in his first season, the team won the Saudi Premier League, and won the title again in 2006, where Akram also won the league's Player of the Year and Foreign Player of the Year awards. Al-Ain and moving to England controversy On 1 August 2007, Nashat Akram signed a 1-year contract with the club Al-Ain from UAE for 1 million dollars, he was also linked to England with Sunderland. During the current transfer window (January 2008), Akram agreed a deal to sign for Sven-Göran Eriksson's Manchester City side following a successful trial spell. Described by