The Jeddah based club voiced its interest in the Egyptian international after failing to reach an agreement with Sfaxien to sign the mercurial Abdelkrim Nafti who is currently being targeted by several European sides, the Saudi paper said.

Barakat enjoyed a successful spell with Ahli Jeddah in the 2002-2003 where he finished as the team's top scorer and won the Saudi league Foreign Player of the Year award.

Ahli Jeddah officials remain great admirers of the 30-year-old midfielder even though he missed over four months of action through injury.

The Jeddah giants already have two Arab players in their squad, both of which are Tunisians, Khaled Badra and Haykel Guemamdia.