The Al Shaab Sentinel
Market10 Aug 2026
Majed Yaqoob asks to leave Al Shaab
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Nasser Rashid signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nasser Rashid and Al Shaab agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Al Shaab
Nasser Rashid 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Al Ahli are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Al Shaab will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Al Shaab
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hassan Yaqoob was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Al Shabab tell Al Shaab: Youssef Hassan is not for sale
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.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Ali Suqrat
“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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
No place for Nicolas Nkoulou in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Al Shaab are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
Nasser Rashid knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nasser Rashid trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
- Market No place for Rashid Ismail in the plan
- Market Al Shaab bring in an old head