The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al-Riyadh have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Mamadou Sylla 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Abdulmajeed Ayash is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Qadisiyah have kept their man, and Al-Riyadh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Al-Riyadh will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sulaiman Hazazi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Riyadh is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yoann Barbet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Al-Batin paid $51.0K and Al-Riyadh took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Al-Riyadh asked and Al-Nassr said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Mamadou Sylla 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.
Add another name to the list: Al-Diriyah have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mohammed Suhluli. The answer from Al-Riyadh has not changed — yet.
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.
“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-Riyadh, and both men came out saying it was fine.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Mamadou Sylla 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.
Al-Riyadh asked and Al-Hilal said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Adulrahman Al-Shammari, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Al-Riyadh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ammar Al-Harfi 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tozé signs something — a contract at Al-Riyadh or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Abdullah Hassoun had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Mamadou Sylla 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.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Add another name to the list: Al-Diriyah have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mohammed Suhluli. The answer from Al-Riyadh has not changed — yet.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Al-Riyadh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yoann Barbet 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.
Al-Riyadh asked and Al-Ta'ee said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
20 goals in 20 games at Malavan — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al-Riyadh updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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-Riyadh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yoann Barbet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Al-Riyadh will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Hamad Al-Khorayef 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yoann Barbet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mohammed Suhluli trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Riyadh they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Rodrigo Abascal 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.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Riyadh know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Position 6 on 55 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
“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-Riyadh, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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-Riyadh can pretend not to have heard.
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-Riyadh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Yoann Barbet 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al-Riyadh. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Riyadh know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Rodrigo Abascal 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Yoann Barbet 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Riyadh know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A new face in his position, and Yazan Jari suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Al-Riyadh have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
Adulrahman Al-Shammari 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.
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-Riyadh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
52 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Al-Riyadh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yoann Barbet 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tozé signs something — a contract at Al-Riyadh or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Al-Riyadh will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
In brief
The dugoutHamoud Bassam knocks on the manager's door
“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-Riyadh 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-Riyadh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
20 goals in 20 games at Malavan — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al-Riyadh updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Yoann Barbet 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Riyadh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
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-Riyadh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yoann Barbet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Riyadh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al-Riyadh have lost him in all but the paperwork.
17 appearances away from home and 20 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Al-Riyadh close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Riyadh will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.84 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Up for the corner, and Victor Lekhal delivers — 7.85
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Victor Lekhal scored, was marked 7.85, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Rodrigo Abascal 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yoann Barbet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Riyadh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Rodrigo Abascal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Al-Riyadh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yoann Barbet 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.
Marked 8.16 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mohammed Suhluli and Al-Riyadh agree another 4 years.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Riyadh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Hamad Al-Khorayef 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Trezeguet was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.13. 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.
Level with 91 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Al-Riyadh had all but put away. Al-Hazem will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Trezeguet is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The offer from Al-Ta'ee for Mohammed Suhluli 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.
“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-Riyadh can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Al-Riyadh close the window on a squad of their own making
20 in and 11 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al-Qadisiyah keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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-Riyadh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Al-Riyadh are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hassan Al-Dosari and Al-Riyadh agree another 4 years.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Sulaiman Hazazi has come out of that comparison in the side, and Al-Riyadh have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al-Riyadh have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Two goals and a mark of 8.25 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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-Riyadh can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Al-Riyadh have done the hard part with Al-Taawoun, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Al-Fateh paid $190.0K and Al-Riyadh took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Al-Riyadh asked and Al-Qadisiyah said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Trezeguet at his very best
Mamadou Sylla 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Al-Riyadh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yoann Barbet 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.
24 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.