“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al-Shabab, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Al-Shabab that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al-Shabab, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al Jazira, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al-Shabab, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al-Shabab, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The language is coming and there is somebody to talk to in the dressing room. A footballer who feels at home plays like one, and it never shows up in a scouting report.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Milson has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Al Jazira has been clear about where Anwar Moutawafiq stands, which is more than many ever get.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Shabab can pretend not to have heard.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Shabab can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Shabab have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Unai Hernández will call it something else in private.
Al-Faisaly will want this one forgotten quickly: 5-2, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Al-Shabab were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Al-Shabab have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Al-Shabab have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.