How Mido won a nation's hearts

"The fans follow his every move on television. I still coach youngsters at Zamalek [Mido's first club] and you can always tell when Mido has played the night before whether for his club or the national team. They will come in talking about every little thing he did; they deconstruct his moves and recreate his goals."

But it is not just Mido's goalscoring, it is also his bank balance that has come to the attention of his countrymen. Successive £4m moves from Ajax to Marseille to Roma - who loaned him to Spurs in January - have turned Mido into a millionaire.

Suddenly football has become a serious career option for Egyptian youngsters. Gohary said: "He has changed the mentality of families here. Previously, education was always above football. Now parents say, 'I want my kid to be like Mido'.

"It is too soon to talk about him being the best Egyptian player of all time. At the moment, I think he has shown only 40 per cent of his potential. The most important time for a footballer is between the ages of 22 and 26 and he is just starting that period.

"He used to be a bit of a rascal but now he is settled and it is important for him to mature. However, if he puts in the work then there is no reason why he cannot become the best player in Africa. In my opinion, he is a first-class striker."

The Mido story began in a comfortable, middle-class district of Cairo where Ahmed was born as the youngest of three Hossam children. His father, Wasfy, used to play for Zamalek - one of Egypt's leading clubs - and encouraged football from an early age.

Noticing his son's natural talent, Wasfy, a company director, enrolled him in a private school that specialises in sport. There his footballing skills were honed, while he also played for Zamalek youth in his spare time. Gohary recalls his first encounter with the nine-yearold prodigy. He said: "I saw him playing five-a-side with his friends outside a social club. He was striking, he had so much presence. I called him over immediately and said, 'Do you want to join Zamalek?'

"After six months we realised he was something special. He used to play with the under-14s even though he was only 10. He had the character of a star, he was a little rascal. I thought it was important to have a good nickname so I dubbed him Mido. The name fitted. His dad was calling him 'Lol' but I didn't like that so I made sure Mido stuck. In the under-16 season, he scored 85 goals. He is not a playmaker, he is a goalscorer, he is made for goalscoring. The first team soon saw his potential and wanted him."

But Mido did not want them. After just four games, the 16-year-old quit Zamalek to seek his fortune in Europe. The move angered the Cairo club, who even confiscated his passport in a bid to keep their star. Mido, however, was undeterred and, after his father acquired a replacement passport, he joined Belgian side Ghent.

There, Mido's rise was rapid. After just one season there, Bolton, Southampton, Paris Saint-Germain and Anderlecht were on his tail, but the offer from Ajax proved the most attractive.

Mido's father Wasfy said: "He always dreamed of playing in the Premier League, but when Ajax came in he knew he couldn't turn it down because of the sort of exposure that would give him across Europe. They also have such a history and reputation for bringing through young players. There he was taught to play football properly."

It was a shrewd move. Mido won the Dutch title in 2002, averaging more than a goal every other game. At 19, he was chosen as the league's young player of the year and already a mainstay of the Egypt national team.

However, alongside the stardom came a celebrity lifestyle and a burgeoning ego that, after two years in Amsterdam, eventually proved his downfall. Fond of flash cars and showbiz parties, he soon gained a playboy reputation and his relationship with a former Miss Belgium, model Joke van der Velde, provided bountiful fodder for gossip columnists.

With his off-the-field exploits causing increasing concern at Ajax, Mido also had several bust-ups with coach Ronald Koeman over team selection.

The final row - when Mido told a TV interviewer he was leaving the club after being substituted by Koeman - sealed his fate. After a loan spell at Celta Vigo, he was sold to Marseille with Koeman adamant that the player was not welcome back at Ajax.

Wasfy admits his son wasn't mature enough to cope with his fame. He said: "He had a misunderstanding with Koeman. It was engendered by the fact Mido was 19 at the time. He was young, he just wasn't ready to take on professional responsibilities or even aware of them all.

"In the end they had to go their separate ways. In hindsight, I think Mido regrets not persevering at Ajax for a bit longer. The chances are it was just a phase he was going through and, in time, things would have improved."

As for the lifestyle, Wasfy claims the playboy tag was unfair, adding: "He only ever partied on the weekends and has always liked cars. The relationship with Joke was serious.

"They were going to get married but it didn't work out. There was pressure from his mum. She said it's not the right time and she also wanted him to marry an Egyptian girl.

"He needed our blessing and he wasn't going to get it. They became good friends even after Mido broke up with her and they are still in touch."

At Marseille, competition in attack from Didier Drogba made it difficult for him to settle and he was soon on his way again, moving to Italy, where he signed a five-year deal with Roma last summer.

However, a change of coach and the form of Vincenzo Montella saw him marginalised in the Italian capital, so when Spurs offered an 18-month loan deal, he jumped at the chance of a fresh start. Even though Robbie Keane, Jermain Defoe and Fredi Kanoute are fighting for places, Wasfy is confident Mido's career can blossom at White Hart Lane.

He said: "It's always been Mido's aspiration to play in the Premier League. Even though he's only been there a short time, he absolutely loves it. There is a comparison with Thierry Henry. When he was with Juventus, he didn't play a lot, then he went to the Premiership and became a star. That is what Mido aspires to."

There were a host of Premiership clubs, including Sunday's opponents Newcastle, chasing Mido, but once Spurs made their interest known, it was an easy decision.

Wasfy said: "Tottenham have a lot of popularity in Egypt. A lot of people of my generation went to live in London in the 1960s and 1970s and they followed Tottenham.

"If you ask people on the street here, they would not necessarily have heard of Chelsea or Arsenal, they are far more likely to have heard of Tottenham.

"They also came to Egypt on tour in the 1960s. The people of my generation remembered them from the tour. I saw them play here, I remember seeing players like Jimmy Greaves and Dave Mackay. People here have admired Tottenham ever since.

"An added attraction was the fact that head coach Martin Jol is Dutch and familiar with Mido. Jol appreciates Mido's ability. Mido knows Defoe, Keane and Kanoute are all stars, but he also trusts the coach to give him the right opportunity when it comes along."

Wasfy also insists there is no danger of Mido repeating his Ajax mistakes and becoming distracted by London's nightlife.

He has also made his peace with the Egypt national team after a row with previous coach Marco Tardelli, which led to the striker being banned from international matches.

The player, who has scored three goals for Spurs, now has an Egyptian wife, Yosra, and baby son who live with him in a house near the club's Chigwell training ground.

His new-found sense of responsibility also extends to studying for a correspondence degree course in business administration at a Cairo university and starting up his own training academy to develop young footballers in Egypt.

Wasfy added: "I was adamant about him settling down, having a family and concentrating on his work. Some of the issues he has faced happened when he was very young and he didn't have the experience to deal with them properly. Now he has the maturity to cope with those kind of things."