There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ibrahim Al-Sheikh is living that version at Al-Faisaly, and it tends to show in the first month.
The deal with Al-Khaleej 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.
Theo Bongonda 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.
“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.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Words at Al-Faisaly training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdullah Bin Subayt 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 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.
57 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Mojzel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Mojzel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 The request is on a desk at Al-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Hamed Doukouré was one of the reasons people came, and $230.0K does not replace that by itself.
The clubs have shaken hands with Ohod; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The phone has started ringing about Saad Al-Shammari again, and this time the name on the line is Al-Ettifaq. Al-Mojzel are listening politely and promising nothing.
Alex Lima 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 words a physio says slowly. 64 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.
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Al-Diriyah waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Al-Mojzel is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Al-Mojzel have done the hard part with Al-Jeel, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Alex Lima 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 Rashid Al-Sultan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout9 Jul 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Alex Lima's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Al-Mojzel have made the call to Al-Ra'ed. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Mojzel 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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al-Mojzel have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al-Jeel keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Mojzel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Al-Mojzel have gone to Al-Fateh 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.
Al-Mojzel asked and Damac said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 words a physio says slowly. 92 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.
The offer from Ohod for Ibrahim Al-Sheikh 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Mojzel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Omar Al-Khaibari has agreed terms with Al-Nahda for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Alex Lima 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Wehda have kept their man, and Al-Mojzel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rashid Al-Sultan 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
The dugoutAlex Lima is still being punished for one mistake
113 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Mojzel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Mojzel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rashid Al-Sultan 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 dugout21 May 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Felipe Mardones's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
61 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Mojzel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Islomjon Xasanov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Mojzel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Zolani Nkombelo 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Youssef Al-Juhani and Al-Mojzel agree another 2 years.
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.
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.
75 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Mojzel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Mojzel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ibrahim Al-Sheikh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Mojzel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 40 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Mojzel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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-Mojzel 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 Rashid Al-Sultan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Islomjon Xasanov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Mojzel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Alex Lima 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.
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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Faisaly will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 28 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
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-Faisaly this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Ibrahim Al-Sheikh has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Al-Faisaly have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
At 20 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.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Mojzel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Yasser Al-Moosa scored, was marked 7.78, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
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.
At 22 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.
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The offer from Al-Ta'ee for Saad Al-Zahrani 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.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Al-Nahda moved on, Bandar Al-Khaibari reports back to Al-Mojzel, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Hamad Al-Zahrani is a Al-Mojzel player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Alex Lima 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-Mojzel asked and Al-Khaleej said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rashid Al-Sultan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
BoardroomWages swallow 128% of the Al-Mojzel income
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Al-Mojzel 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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Al-Mojzel offered $830.0K; Al-Khaleej said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The offer went to Ohod this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Alex Lima 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-Mojzel asked and Al-Fateh said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Alex Lima 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.
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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al-Mojzel, and 0 appearances in 25 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody at Al-Mojzel 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.
“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-Mojzel 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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Hassan Al-Habib and Al-Mojzel agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zolani Nkombelo 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.
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.
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Alex Lima and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamed Doukouré 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al-Mojzel, and 2 appearances in 20 say he has earned the hearing.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al-Mojzel, 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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
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.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.97, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Alex Lima 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 Zolani Nkombelo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Al-Wehda held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Al-Mojzel answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Hamed Doukouré 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 Zolani Nkombelo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ibrahim Al-Sheikh 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Al-Mojzel, another week without a signature from Hamed Doukouré.
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Alex Lima 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 Zolani Nkombelo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Hajer for Faisal Al-Subaie 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.
Hamed Doukouré 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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Alex Lima 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Ettifaq have kept their man, and Al-Mojzel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The name of Bandar Al-Khaibari has come up in conversations Al-Mojzel were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Al-Mojzel know which stage they are at.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ibrahim Al-Sheikh trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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-Mojzel 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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Al-Mojzel have gone to Ohod 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.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zolani Nkombelo 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al-Mojzel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Sultan Al-Sulami is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Rashid Al-Sultan signs something — a contract at Al-Mojzel or anywhere else — this column belongs to 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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mohammed Al-Ghanem has just signed for Al-Mojzel, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zolani Nkombelo 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.
Mohammed Al-Ghanem is 20, and Al-Mojzel have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Nobody at Al-Mojzel 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alex Lima signs something — a contract at Al-Mojzel or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Alex Lima 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 Zolani Nkombelo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
14 goals in 23 games at Al-Diriyah — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al-Mojzel updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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.
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.
“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-Mojzel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“For the first time in years I am picked because somebody wants me in the team.” Al-Diriyah suits him; the awkward conversation belongs to Al-Mojzel, and the summer will force it.