29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Diriyah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 The request is on a desk at Al-Diriyah, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Al-Diriyah could ask drops and the wages Diego Cortés can ask rise.
57 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Diriyah lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 The request is on a desk at Al-Diriyah, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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-Diriyah are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Al-Diriyah, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Diriyah have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Hussain Al-Nattar has, at Al-Diriyah, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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.
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-Diriyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Diriyah can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Amar Al-Yuhaybi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Position 14 on 5 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Idrissa Gueye 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 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.
Marked 8.09 — 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.
In brief
BoardroomWages swallow 120% of the Al-Diriyah income
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Diriyah lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Al-Diriyah can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“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-Diriyah, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Al-Diriyah until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Al-Hilal is saying, and nobody at Al-Diriyah is enjoying the guessing.
18 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 14 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Diriyah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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-Diriyah, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Óscar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
16 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The words a physio says slowly. 28 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 12 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Berat Djimsiti 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Al-Diriyah and Al-Ra'ed, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Beaten 2‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Al-Diriyah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Óscar 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.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Diriyah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
11 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
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-Diriyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Diriyah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Al-Diriyah can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Al-Khaleej the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Al-Diriyah will enjoy reviewing.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 10 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
“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-Diriyah, and it is not being withdrawn.
Berat Djimsiti 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.
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Al-Diriyah can tell you which week it ends in.
“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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Yasser Al-Dhafiri is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Al-Diriyah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Óscar 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.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 134% of everything Al-Diriyah earn
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Berat Djimsiti 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Al-Diriyah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Óscar 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Fahad Al-Khaibari is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ahmed Al-Otaibi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
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.
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-Diriyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Omar Al-Sulami after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Óscar signs something — a contract at Al-Diriyah or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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-Diriyah can pretend not to have heard.
Berat Djimsiti 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sami Al-Nemer has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
15 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Al-Ittihad in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“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-Diriyah, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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-Diriyah have no good answer.
In brief
The dugoutSami Al-Salem has become a man the manager trusts
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Diriyah will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Sami Al-Salem obliged against Al-Hazem. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Al-Diriyah.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Diriyah can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Nawaf Al-Bishri 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.
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Diriyah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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-Diriyah can pretend not to have heard.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Berat Djimsiti 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Al-Diriyah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Óscar 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Diriyah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 31 arrived, 29 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Al-Diriyah hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Diriyah can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Rakan Kaabi 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.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Diriyah will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
6 goals in one match, Georges-Kévin Nkoudou on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Al-Diriyah and Al-Nassr.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sultan Al-Qahtani has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Diriyah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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-Diriyah can pretend not to have heard.
The terraces16 Aug 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 28 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The first defeat in 9 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Al-Wehda; the supporters will say both, in that order, all 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-Diriyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Diriyah lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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-Diriyah, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Al-Faisaly is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Berat Djimsiti 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Khalid Al-Salem and Al-Diriyah agree another 3 years.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Red Bull Salzburg had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Al-Diriyah people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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-Diriyah can pretend not to have heard.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Al-Diriyah will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Al-Nassr paid $1.3M and Al-Diriyah took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
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-Diriyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Mathematically certain, and nobody in this town is going to bed early. Whatever else happened this season, it finishes a division above where it started.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Al-Ahli had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al-Diriyah have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Hussain Al-Zarie 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-Diriyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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-Diriyah can pretend not to have heard.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
“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-Diriyah are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Al-Diriyah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Qassem Lajami 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Diriyah know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Diriyah have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Qassem Lajami was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Al-Diriyah would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Amadou Bamba has written the date down.
Clayton Diandy has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Omar Colley 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.
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
“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-Diriyah, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Georges-Kévin Nkoudou signs something — a contract at Al-Diriyah or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Up for the corner, and Enzo Millot delivers — 7.94
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Enzo Millot scored, was marked 7.94, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“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-Diriyah are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Darwin Núñez 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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Al-Diriyah now know that too.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Enzo Millot. 2‑1 against Al-Hazem, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
8.01. 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al-Diriyah have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Al-Ra'ed for Abdulelah Al-Malki 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The first defeat in 6 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Al-Ettifaq; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
394% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Diriyah
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.
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Al-Diriyah had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Al-Diriyah did not want this conversation and are having it anyway. A manager wanted elsewhere is a manager whose next contract talk just became more expensive.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.14 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
4 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.
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Diriyah lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Darwin Núñez 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Amadou Bamba 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.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Omar Al-Sulami could afford to be generous.
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.
“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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
491% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Diriyah
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.
He is 23 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.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
“64 caps is more than I ever expected, and it is time somebody else had them.” At 34 he is finished with his country and nowhere near finished with Al-Diriyah.
Darwin Núñez 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.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Al-Diriyah were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Anas Al-Ahmadi is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Al-Diriyah would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
A new face in his position, and Darwin Núñez suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Al-Diriyah have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
Still no offer on the table, and Khalid Abduljawad’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
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-Diriyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Al-Diriyah and Al-Jeel in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
476% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Diriyah
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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A performance of 8.46 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Óscar was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.23. 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Hazem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 9 arrived, 6 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Amadou Bamba reports back to Al-Hazem with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Al-Hazem are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Elias Mokwana has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Omar Al-Somah is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Hazem know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ibrahim Zaied trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Hazem will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.11 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Hazem will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.40 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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-Hazem, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Sultan Tanker 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 101 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Amir Sayoud 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 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.