well soon" message on the board. Shikabala's tribute to Metsu earned the praise of Al Wasl fans, and Emirate people and media. However, it wasn't long after that when Shikabala was involved in his first controversy with the club. After a crushing 5–0 loss to fellow league club Al Ain, Shikabala appeared a few days later with Egyptian super star singer Tamer Hosny, during one of his concerts in the UAE. This caused the outrage of many Al Wasl fans and the disappointment of the club's board, especially in light of his club suffering the worst defeat of the year. Shikabala continued as one of the teams stars as he picked up an assist in almost every match he played. In a match against Bani Yas, which had fellow Egyptian star Mohamed Zidan in their ranks. Shikabala scored in the 1–3 loss to Bani Yas and oddly enough, both players left the match with serious injuries. Shikabala was left out for a month with a thigh injury. Shikabala travelled to Egypt to get his treatment back home but he failed to return to Dubai on time when he was supposed to. The club was disappointed with his late return, which came days after originally anticipated. After weeks of speculation and rumors, Al Wasl had ended Shikabala's loan contract from Zamalek. Return to Zamalek Upon his controversial return from Al Wasl, Shikabala was unable to play for Zamalek for the rest of the 2012–13 season as his loan move outside of CAF restricted him from playing again for Zamalek until the following season. On 29 March 2013, English side Nottingham Forest Club president Fawaz Al-Hasawi expressed great interest in signing the player in the summer of 2013. Even though Shikabala was unable to play for the club, the Zamalek board had demanded that he train with the team but head coach Jorvan Vieira had refused since he didn't want someone in the team's training "that would not be able to play." As of 1 July 2013, Shikabala's loan from Al Wasl would have ended, granting him the ability to play for Zamalek once more. Shikabala made his return debut on 24 July 2013 CAF Champions League match against Al Ahly in the 57th minute. He would go on to play all 6 matches in the group stage of the Champions League scoring 2 goals and assisting 2 goals. Zamalek would then