Marked for Mayed Saeed
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.70, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match30 Oct 2027
Nobody wants to play Al Shabab right now
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Nasser Mansi in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match30 Oct 2027
Three points for Al Shabab, 3‑1 the final word against Sharjah in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces1 Nov 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Ismail Al Hashmi has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Market1 Nov 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Loan watch1 Nov 2027
“I watch every Al Shabab game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sharjah runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad1 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Al Shabab
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mayed Saeed was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Abdullah Al Menhali kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match23 Oct 2027
3‑0, and Favio Cabral took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Al Shabab tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Favio Cabral takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Marked 8.36 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al Shabab may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match23 Oct 2027
Al Shabab make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Al Shabab have 4 straight wins of it.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.43, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match23 Oct 2027
The run at home goes on for Al Shabab
9 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Mayed Saeed falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Abdullah Al Menhali, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
A brace, and Rashid Al Menhali takes the afternoon — 8.67
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rashid Al Menhali provided it, and the 8.67 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match18 Sep 2027
Al Shabab make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Al Shabab have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Al Shabab
Nasser Mansi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match18 Sep 2027
Three points for Al Shabab, 3‑2 the final word against Al Nasr in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces20 Sep 2027
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Ninety minutes of Nasser Mansi at his very best
Marked 8.01. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al Shabab.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
João Carvalho dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Abdullah Al Menhali on a 3‑2 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
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The dugout
Ali Mabkhout gets picked when it counts
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The dugout
The manager has not finished forgetting Agustín Lastra's mistake
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Squad
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market30 Aug 2027
“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.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
$2.3M on the table at Al Jazira. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Ibrahim Mabkhout was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad30 Aug 2027
6 Al Shabab players away with their countries
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 6 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
Squad30 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Khalid Rashid commits to Al Shabab for another 3 years.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
Favio Cabral has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Al Shabab will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Mayed Saeed falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market30 Aug 2027
The name of Favio Cabral keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al Shabab say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market23 Aug 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Al Shabab, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market23 Aug 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcelo Henrique is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market23 Aug 2027
The name of Ali Mabkhout keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al Shabab say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
Leonel Wamba asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Aug 2027
132 days out for Adel Taarabt after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sharjah will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market23 Aug 2027
Luan Pereira hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sharjah can pretend not to have heard.
Market23 Aug 2027
Al Jazira did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $3.1M for Vinicius Mello, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Sharjah have gone to Al Shaab with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Market23 Aug 2027
Sharjah say no — this time
The offer from Al Wahda for Léo Azevedo was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $3.4M — a club that wants Khalid Suqrat enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
No thanks: Mayed Saeed rejects the move
Sharjah had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al Shabab, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Charles Pickel falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Ra'ed have kept their man, and Sharjah go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Aug 2027
Adel Taarabt breaks a bone — 140 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 140 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market16 Aug 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
$3.1M on the table at Al Jazira. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad16 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Leandrinho and Sharjah agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Charles Pickel falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad16 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sharjah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch16 Aug 2027
“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 Sharjah, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Al Shabab have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Nikola Vukić gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nikola Vukić is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Aug 2027
Nasser Mansi in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch9 Aug 2027
“I watch every Al Shabab game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sharjah runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Salem Al Kamali has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Al Shabab will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Al Shabab
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mayed Saeed was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Khalid Hussain asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market9 Aug 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Aug 2027
Nasser Mansi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
Favio Cabral gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Favio Cabral is on it.
Market2 Aug 2027
The name of Favio Cabral keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al Shabab say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mohamed Amine Katiba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market2 Aug 2027
“He is at an age where he has to be playing at the top level. We will listen to anybody.” The representative of Ibrahim Al Suwaidi is not being subtle.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A programme of his own, away from the group, aimed at one thing the staff think is holding him back. Most improvement happens like this and none of it makes the paper.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Jul 2027
Baniyas paid $810.0K and Al Shabab took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad19 Jul 2027
The medical room confirms 41 days on the sidelines for Mansoor Mohammad, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
Ali Mabkhout has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Al Shabab will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Mayed Saeed falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market19 Jul 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Salem Al Kamali signs something — a contract at Al Shabab or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad19 Jul 2027
A season on the outside for João Carvalho
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Al Shabab has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
Salem Al Kamali has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Al Shabab will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Al Shabab
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mayed Saeed was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market12 Jul 2027
The name of Hamdan Al Shamsi keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al Shabab say nothing, which says plenty.
Market12 Jul 2027
Sharjah did not take him to make up a number: they want him playing. For Fahad Al Hashmi that is worth more than another season of watching from Al Shabab's bench, and everyone involved has said so out loud.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
The manager plants his flag on Ali Mabkhout
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Ali Mabkhout’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 May 2027
Omar Suqrat was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout31 May 2027
Nasser Mansi gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nasser Mansi is on it.
Squad31 May 2027
A row about effort at Al Shabab
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mayed Saeed was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market31 May 2027
The name of Ali Mabkhout keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al Shabab say nothing, which says plenty.
Market31 May 2027
Al Shabab have made Hamdan Al Shamsi available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout31 May 2027
Hamdan Al Shamsi asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 May 2027
Nasser Mansi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout10 May 2027
Ibrahim Mabkhout has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Al Shabab will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market10 May 2027
The name of Favio Cabral keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al Shabab say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match6 Mar 2027
Al Shabab cannot stop winning
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match6 Mar 2027
Three points for Al Shabab, 1‑0 the final word against Al Wahda in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Marked 7.89 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Al Shabab had the best player on the pitch.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Mayed Saeed in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Ali Mabkhout makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Abdullah Al Menhali on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Hassan Yaqoob
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Favio Cabral has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Al Shabab will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Jan 2027
Al Fujairah pay $240.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Shaab have kept their man, and Al Shabab go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces18 Jan 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Rashid Al Menhali has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match16 Jan 2027
Three points for Al Shabab, 2‑0 the final word against Al Fujairah in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Match16 Jan 2027
Al Shabab keep winning on the road
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Ali Mabkhout was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.03, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Mayed Saeed and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Mohamed Amine Katiba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
Talocha was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Romain Padovani
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 7.83. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Al Nasr to sit and watch. I want to come back to Al Shabab and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Al Shabab will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Ali Mabkhout makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Match31 Oct 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Agustín Lastra knocks on the manager's door
“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 dugout2 Nov 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Abdullah Al Menhali after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Al Shabab are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Mayed Saeed was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Al Shabab are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Adam Boufandar knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Adam Boufandar trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Al Shabab would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Sep 2026
A goal on 91 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Ibrahim Mabkhout was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Agustín Lastra is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Match19 Sep 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Al Nasr leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market21 Sep 2026
He is 20, and nobody at Al Shabab signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The formation has left Adam Boufandar behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Al Shabab will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Abdullah Al Menhali after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Mayed Saeed falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Al Shabab and Estudiantes have settled on $1.4M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market24 Aug 2026
Al Shabab say no — this time
The offer from Al Shaab for Salem Al Bloushi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Ahly have kept their man, and Al Shabab go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market24 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Al Shabab, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Mayed Saeed in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Hassan Yaqoob falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Belgrano: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Al Shabab have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
Al Shabab say no — this time
The offer from Smouha for Rashid Saeed was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Al Ahli wanted more than $3.0M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market17 Aug 2026
The fee is $340.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Sharjah drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Rashid Saeed in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Mayed Saeed from Sharjah for $340.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hassan Yaqoob is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market17 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Al Shabab will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Khalid Hussain wants to know why he earns less
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Al Shabab have no good answer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sharjah have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market17 Aug 2026
Sharjah pay Al Ahli $3.1M for a proper upgrade
Al Ahli did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $3.1M for Ali Juma, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Market17 Aug 2026
The fee is $930.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Al Jazira drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $147.9K — a club that wants Louay Trayi enough to be asked twice.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Kodjo Laba was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
An offer of $140.0K for Louay Trayi
Sharjah have gone to Al Wahda with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Market17 Aug 2026
Business is business: Mayed Saeed goes
Al Shabab paid $340.0K and Sharjah took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Sharjah
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ali Juma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ghaith Abdalla and Sharjah agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.