Marked for Mohammed Barnawi
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Jun 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al-Ittihad have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Al-Ittihad have gone to Al-Shabab 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
Al-Ra'ed paid $4.8M and Al-Ittihad took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Market21 Jun 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-Ittihad can pretend not to have heard.
Market21 Jun 2027
Al Ahli come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Al-Ittihad did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Everything agreed with Al-Ettifaq, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Ahli have kept their man, and Al-Ittihad go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Al-Ahli wanted more than $110.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Ahmed Al-Ghamdi 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
$6.8M settles it between the clubs for Feras Al-Brikan
Al-Ahli have accepted the money. What Al-Ittihad do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market7 Jun 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-Ittihad can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Jun 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.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Al-Ittihad have gone to Al-Fayha 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.
Market7 Jun 2027
“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.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $7.9M — a club that wants Feras Al-Brikan enough to be asked twice.
Market7 Jun 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Al-Ittihad will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Saad Al-Mosa and Al-Ittihad agree another 4 years.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Mohammed Barnawi 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Oct 2026
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Market19 Oct 2026
“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.
Match19 Oct 2026
The view from the top for Al-Ittihad
21 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.82 for the rest of it.
Match17 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play Al-Ittihad right now
3 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mohammed Barnawi is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Dion Lopy 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.17, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Sami Al-Ahmadi could afford to be generous.