Phil Brown's Shock Swoop for Amr Zaki Can Only End in Tears at Hull

You don't need to be Nostradamus to be proved correct with this prediction. Sooner or later, it will all end in tears.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, but surely Hull City aren't that desperate? In signing Amr Zaki for the remainder of the season, and paying £500,000 for the privilege in addition to the forward's generous personal terms, they certainly look it.

If it's come to a situation where bringing in Zaki is the answer to the conundrum of staying up, then perhaps they are better off going down. Except, bearing in mind Hull's perilous finances, that is simply not an option.

They dare not contemplate the ramifications of dropping into the Championship, and that is why they've taken such a huge risk. It is one which is surely destined to backfire, all the way into the Football League.

Perhaps manager Phil Brown thinks he's the man able to finally harness Zaki's undoubted powers, a talent sadly tainted by the Eqyptian possessing a gigantic ego, one that sees him regularly attempt to put the 'me' into team, often with devastating effects.

Just ask Steve Bruce. The Sunderland manager is a reasonable man, not known for hyperbole, but he was driven in his dealings with Zaki at Wigan to label him the most unprofessional player he'd ever worked with.

When Zaki was banging in the goals during the first half of his single season at the DW Stadium in 2008, Bruce would often regale anyone who cared to listen of his hair-raising trips through the notorious Cairo traffic in order to undertake scouting missions on a player who at first appeared an inspired signing. Soon, however, he was merely left wishing he'd been left stuck in a jam.

Zaki no doubt made an impression on Brown when scoring twice against Hull in a 5-0 romp at the KC Stadium last season as the forward took the Premier League by storm with eight goals in as many games at the outset of his career in this country.

That was as good as it got. In all, Zaki ended up with 10 goals, the last of those shortly after Christmas, after which time came all manner of runs-ins with Bruce over his behaviour and professionalism, or lack of it, which, according to reports, included four occasions on which the errant player went AWOL.

Then there's the matter of the 26-year-old's repulsive alleged comments in shunning a move to Portsmouth this season due to the presence at Fratton Park of Israeli duo Avram Grant and Tal Ben Haim.

Despite all the warnings, that hasn't dissuaded Brown, who can perhaps run Zaki close in the ego stakes, from thinking he can be the one to finally get the best out of his new signing. Why on earth he thinks this is anyone's guess.

Wake up and smell the coffee, Phil. The only reason he left Eygpt for a second time in 18 months is because he fell out with his club, El Zamalek. Can't you hear the alarm bells ringing?

There is still hope, though. The deal will only go through with the granting of a work permit. Surely there must be a Hull fan somewhere in the Home Office with the power to veto it?

For teams in Hull's precarious position battling against relegation, team-spirit and the feeling that everyone is pulling in the same direction is a priceless ingredient in helping to achieve that goal. With it, Hull have an outside chance of avoiding the drop. Without it, they are doomed.

Self-centred players such as Zaki bring absolutely nothing to the table on that front. No matter how talented he is, his new team-mates will soon turn against him if he continues the kind of selfish behaviour that has pockmarked his career.

Brown needs players he would want by his side in the trenches, not one who has shown a distinct lack of bottle whenever the going gets tough.

In signing Zaki for half a season, perhaps Brown is keeping his fingers crossed he gets a repeat of the good half the forward enjoyed at Wigan, before he began to believe his own hype and things quickly fell apart.

Whatever the reasoning, it's a massive, massive gamble, and it will go wrong at some stage. When it all goes belly up, Brown will soon get sick of people telling him 'I told you so'. We're simply telling you now, Phil. Remember where you read it first.

It could be worse for long-suffering Hull fans. Brown also could be in for that other temperamental Egyptian, Mido, the Middlesbrough forward who in comparison makes Zaki look like quite a reasonable human being.

What's that? Phil's just been on the phone to Gordon Strachan? Oh, oh.