The Egypt first-choice keeper has been recently approached by Merreikh, but Ismaili turned down their overtures as the Sudanese side couldn't meet the Dervishes' financial demands.

For a while Al-Hadari remained adamant that he would leave the three-time Egyptian champions in the current transfer window, but eventually changed his mind 'for the sake of the Egyptian national team'.

"Joining Merreikh this winter would have obliged me to stay in Cairo for the next few days to negotiate with Ismaili's officials and then travel to Sudan to wrap up the deal," the 36-year-old goalie told FilGoal.com.

"All these talks in addition to the procedures for obtaining the Sudanese nationality would have prevented me from joining Egypt's training camp for days, and would have definitely distracted me ahead of CAN.

"So I decided to postpone my departure from Ismaili till the end of the season, for the sake of the Egyptian national team."

Merreikh, who have beefed up their squad with a number of super signings of late, offered Al-Hadari the Sudanese nationality and tabled $ one-million bid to acquire his services in January.

Personal Accolades Unimportant

Speaking of CAN, which gets underway on January 10th, Al-Hadari assured that personal accolades are not among his objectives.

"I really don't care about personal accolades and achievements. Winning the title is much more important," the former Ahli custodian said.

"I wouldn't be satisfied if I was named the best keeper while Egypt failed to claim the title."

The Pharaohs, who have won the continental trophy six times overall, are seeking to claim a record-breaking third successive nations cup title.