Al Ahly have confirmed the departure of Aliou Badji from the club, ahead of an anticipated permanent switch to Amiens.
The Egyptian Premier League confirmed on their website that the French Ligue Two outfit triggered the release clause of the former Senegal youth international.
“Amiens Sporting Club have completed the transfer of Aliou Badji after activating the option to buy the Senegalese striker's contract on Saturday,” the statement read.
“Amir Tawfik, head of Al Ahly’s transfers department, announced that Badji will join Amiens on a permanent basis after spending a successful one-year loan with the French side.”
The 10-time Caf Champions League winners announced his exit and thanked him for his service to the Cairo Stadium giants.
“We wish you all the best of luck in your future endeavours,” Al Ahly tweeted.
With this development, Badji becomes the nine African at the Stade de la Licorne. Others include: Tolu Arokodare (Nigeria), Mamadou Fofana (Mali), Nicholas Opoku (Ghana), Formose Mendy (Senegal), Matthieu Dossevi (Togo), Emmanuel Lomotey (Ghana), Chadrac Akolo (Congo), Nathan Monzango (Congo) and Charbel Gomez (Benin Republic).
After representing Rapid Wien during the 2019-20 campaign, Badji joined the Egyptian giants on a four-a-half-year contract for a reported fee of €2 million.
He made a scoring league debut as the Red Devils secured a 1-1 away draw to Pyramids. Following his inability to tie down a regular spot in Pitso Mosimane’s squad, the Senegalese striker joined the French side on a one-year loan with an option to buy.
There, he scored 13 goals in 26 French second-tier encounters, albeit Philippe Hinschberger’s men failed in their quest to return to the French top-flight having accrued 44 points from 38 matches to end the 2021-22 campaign in 14th position.
Badji will now be focused on helping Amiens regain their elite division status when the new season commences.
The goal machine represented Senegal at U20 level on the international scene – finding the net on 12 occasions in 12 appearances.
With the Lions of Teranga participating in the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar, coach Aliou Cisse could hand him a call-up to battle his way into the final squad.
