Steve Bruce has hailed striker Amr Zaki, believing he brings something different to his Wigan side.
Egyptian hungry for success
Wigan manager Steve Bruce has hailed Egyptian striker Amr Zaki, believing he brings something different to his side.
The 25-year-old, currently the number one striker in Fifa's rankings, moved to the Latics on a one-year loan deal from Zamalek.
Bruce believes the player - who was named in the African Nations' Select XI ahead of Didier Drogba last season - is hungry to succeed in the Premier League.
Asked what we can expect from Zaki, Bruce told
Sky Sports: "Well, he's different, that's for sure.
Goalscorer
"He's got to be a bit different but the one thing about him is he's proved since he's trained with us and played with us, he wants to score a goal - he's a goalscorer.
"He's not interested in anything else. (He's a) big physical sort of brute of a man who if you're a centre-back, you wouldn't want to play against him."
Bruce added that Zaki came to his attention in the African Cup of Nations tournament when he scored two goals in the 4-1 semi-final defeat of Ivory Coast, with Egypt going on to retain the trophy.
"I'm sitting watching him thinking 'he looks a hell of a player'. So since then really we've monitored him, been out there and watched him and every week he scores," said Bruce.
Big chance
"Well we've struck up a deal with Zamalek that this is his big chance and I know for a fact that it won't be for a lack of trying and he doesn't succeed so we wish him the best of luck and hope that he can produce the goals because that was our Achilles Heel, we needed to score more than what we did last year."
Another Egyptian striker, Mido, has made a name for himself in the Premier League but Bruce does not think they have the same temperament.
"His temperament's definitely not like Mido's that's for sure, although people like Mido and I like Mido too, but he's different.
"But he's certainly got something different than anybody else but he comes and he works and he trains hard and wants to succeed, wants to be a player - and there's a bit of hunger there for him to succeed and I hope he does."
