Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Shabab will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Igor Serrote 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Bandar Yaqoob has, at Al Shabab, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
“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.
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.
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 Iván López is on it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Al Shabab has been clear about where Jamie Jones stands, which is more than many ever get.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Shabab know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Shabab will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
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.
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.
Marked 8.02 — 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.
At 20 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Al Shabab will try not to make too much of it.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Al Shabab will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Faisal Al Junaibi could afford to be generous.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Abolfazl Zadehattar. 1‑0 against Sharjah, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Walid Al Junaibi 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Faisal Al Junaibi could afford to be generous.
Iván López 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Serrote 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.
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Pierre Akono
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Al Shabab have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Shots: 6. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
In brief
The dugoutPierre Akono asks for a word with the manager
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Youssef Nader scored in the 88th minute, Al Dhafra had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Al Shabab took the lot.
Lucas Pimenta 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.
7.94, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Al Shabab had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout18 Oct 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.” Faisal Al Junaibi kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Igor Serrote was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ali Al Hammadi 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.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Iván López signs something — a contract at Al Shabab or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Al Dhafra 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 Shabab, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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.
Hassan 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Djordje Matic is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Igor Serrote was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
In brief
SquadThe division's best last weekend was a Al Shabab man
“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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.22 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
“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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Faisal Al Junaibi could afford to be generous.
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 Reda Jaadi is on it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Al-Nahda; Al Shabab go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 7 signed and 18 gone
That is the business done at Al Shabab 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.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ali Al Hammadi is 17, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Bandar Nader has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Walid Al Hashmi 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Hamdan Omar has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The fee is $750.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Al Wahda drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Al Shabab have done the hard part with Al-Nahda, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Hassan Suqrat 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 offer went to Al Ahli 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Igor Serrote 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.
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 Shabab know which stage they are at.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Al Shabab would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
$750.0K settles it between the clubs for Lucas Pimenta
Al Wahda have accepted the money. What Al Shabab do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
He is going to Al Ahly, the club has $5.6M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
The name of Nasser Hussain has come up in conversations Al Shabab were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Serrote 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 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.
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 Iván López is on it.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ali Al Hammadi is 17, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Nabil Jaadi 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Igor Serrote 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.
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 Reda Jaadi is on it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Khalid Obaid's mistake
Erik 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 name of Nasser Hussain has come up in conversations Al Shabab were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al Shabab. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
The offer from Real Madrid for Iván López 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Igor Serrote was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
Igor Serrote 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.
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 Shabab, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
“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.
The offer from Emirates Club for Nasser Hussain 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 given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al Shabab know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Igor Serrote was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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 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 Jamie Jones has written the date down.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Iván López had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The offer went to Al Shaab 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Igor Serrote was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Iván López is on it.
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 Jamie Jones has written the date down.
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Iván López’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
The offer from Baniyas for Khalid Obaid 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Khalfan Al Hashmi 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 Igor Serrote was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
18 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
Igor Serrote 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.
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 listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Amer Al Junaibi had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Djordje Matic is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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 Reda Jaadi is on 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.
Hassan 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 medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Pierre Akono, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad31 May 2027
Igor Serrote 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.
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 Iván López is on it.
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Serrote 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.
Mahmoud Al Suwaidi 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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Khalid Obaid's mistake
Igor Serrote 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.
Something was said to Erik and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“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 Shabab, and 18 appearances in 34 say he has earned the hearing.
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 Iván López is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al Shabab. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Igor Serrote was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Reda Jaadi is on it.
In brief
The dugoutKhalid Obaid is still being punished for one mistake
“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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Emmanuel Lomotey and Al Shabab agree another 4 years.
Pierre Akono and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Igor Serrote 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 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al Shabab can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 6.94, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Igor Serrote 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
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 Iván López is on it.
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.
Khalfan Al Hashmi 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 Igor Serrote was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
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 0‑1 Faisal Al Junaibi left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Sharjah kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Al Shabab will be asked about the last half hour all week.
“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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Igor Serrote 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.
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Al Shabab will try not to make too much of it.
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al Shabab lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Iván López had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Igor Serrote did not need any: 8.02, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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.
3 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.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Igor Serrote 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Walid Al Junaibi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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 Nottingham Forest for Iván López 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 name of Walid Al Junaibi has come up in conversations Al Shabab were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Igor Serrote 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.
Marked 8.28 — 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Faisal Al Junaibi on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
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 7.95 for the rest of it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Gostaresh Foulad is saying, and nobody at Al Shabab is enjoying the guessing.
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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Serrote 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
Transfer targetsA loan move for Morteza Shojaei is in the works
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al Shabab have lost him in all but the paperwork.
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.
“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.
The words a physio says slowly. 52 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.
“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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Faisal Al Junaibi after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 71 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.
Igor Serrote 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Iván López 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.
3 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Dibba spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
8.27. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Walid Al Junaibi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Shabab lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.35 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
A point taken on 91 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
102 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Shabab lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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 Khalfan Al Hammadi is on it.
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.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Mahmoud Al Suwaidi may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Shabab know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
110 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Shabab lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Pierre Akono 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Igor Serrote 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.
“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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 118 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 given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al Shabab know it.
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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Majed Yaqoob commits to Al Shabab for another 3 years.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Faisal Al Junaibi was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Al Shabab dressing room was either.
Something was said to Iván López and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Pierre Akono and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Igor Serrote 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Pierre Akono
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Al Nasr? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Every debut is a small story about the future: Mahmoud Al Suwaidi, 18 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
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.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
In brief
Player ratingsThe pass was always on for Youssef Nader
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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 deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 7 arrived, 6 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The offer from Al Wahda for Iván López 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 deal that would have taken Khalid Obaid to Al Jazira has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Al Shabab with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ali Al Hammadi is 16, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
2 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Al Shabab asked and Al Jazira 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 words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
Ethnikos Achnas did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $6.0M for Emmanuel Lomotey, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
“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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Al Shabab have done the hard part with Al Shaab, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Nasser Hussain reports back to Al Shabab with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Iván López 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.
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al Shabab lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Foolad had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
$6.0M on the table at Ethnikos Achnas. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Hassan Suqrat 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 Youssef Nader was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Shabab know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The offer from Osasuna for Iván López 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.
Al Shabab and Al Jazira have settled on $2.2M. 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.
Add another name to the list: Sharjah have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Fahad Saeed. The answer from Al Shabab has not changed — yet.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $122.4K — a club that wants Fousséni Silué enough to be asked twice.
Iván López 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.
$120.0K on the table at Al Wasl. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dibba have kept their man, and Al Shabab go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer went to Al Jazira 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.
The name of Khalfan Al Hashmi has come up in conversations Al Shabab were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Ibrahim Al Naqbi 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 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Youssef Nader 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Iván López trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.