Marked for Hamad Al Naqbi
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 May 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Shaab is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 May 2027
A row about effort at Al Shaab
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdullah Al Shamsi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad17 May 2027
Hamad 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.
Loan watch17 May 2027
“I did not go to Al Fujairah to sit and watch. I want to come back to Al Shaab and fight for my place.” 11 appearances in 37 matches say the rest.
Market17 May 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Abdullah Al Shamsi signs something — a contract at Al Shaab or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market17 May 2027
Al Shaab have made Youssef Hussain available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 May 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Al Shaab, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Al Shaab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdullah Al Shamsi 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.
Squad10 May 2027
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 Shaab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch10 May 2027
9 shut-outs in 25 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Prince Guèye has been having a lot of them.
Market10 May 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Youssef Hussain signs something — a contract at Al Shaab or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market10 May 2027
7 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Al Shaab money.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Al Shaab
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdullah Al Shamsi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Al Shaab
Hamad Al Naqbi 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yassine Abdelali, and the manager let it.
Market26 Apr 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Shaab know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Match26 Apr 2027
Al Shaab have something to play for
Position 6 on 32 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
The goals keep arriving from Youssef Saeed’s exile
3 goals in 25 games at Al Fujairah — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al Shaab updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Hamdan Rashid knocks on the manager's door
“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 Shaab, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market26 Apr 2027
Somebody from Al Ahli has seen every one of Abdullah Al Shamsi’s last few games. Nobody travels that far that often out of curiosity, and everybody at Al Shaab knows it.
Squad26 Apr 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Mar 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Youssef Abdulrahman is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Abdullah Al Shamsi 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Hamad 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.
Market29 Mar 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Stanley Nwabali’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Match29 Mar 2027
Al Shaab have something to play for
Position 6 on 32 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Loan watch29 Mar 2027
25 appearances at Al Fujairah and the goals keep coming. Al Shaab are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ibrahim Saeed
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Shaab lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market8 Feb 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Al Shaab people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Match6 Feb 2027
The wait goes on for Al Shaab
5 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.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
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 Shaab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match6 Feb 2027
Al Jazira left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
Al Shaab release $2.1M for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Amer Ismail after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Asher Agbinone named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Asher Agbinone is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al Shaab lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Window shuts: 4 in, 5 out at Al Shaab
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A move Mohamed Al-Wafi would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Mohamed Al-Wafi is living that version at Al Shaab, and it tends to show in the first month.
Match30 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Al Shaab's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al Shaab has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Al Shaab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdullah Al Shamsi 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Hamad 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 dugout1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Brahim Sabaouni, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Al-Faisaly had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market24 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Al Fujairah waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Al Shaab is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
$680.0K settles it between the clubs for Mohamed Ali
Al Wasl have accepted the money. What Al Shaab do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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 Shaab can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $170.6K — a club that wants Vladimir Prijović enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The offer went to Sharjah 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
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 Shaab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ahmed Al Naqbi, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
$3.5M. No player has ever cost Al Shaab more, and expectation arrives with him.
Market17 Aug 2026
Sharjah come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Al Shaab did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The clubs have shaken hands with Al Wahda; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Badr Gaddarine gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Badr Gaddarine has just signed for Al Shaab, and for once the answer mattered.
Market17 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Al Ain have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Hamad Al Naqbi. The answer from Al Shaab has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$590.0K 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Al Shaab
Hamad Obaid 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 terraces17 Aug 2026
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Abdullah Al Shamsi from Al Ahli for $3.5M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
$3.3M on the table at Al Ahli. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Hamad Obaid and Al Shaab agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Hamad Obaid in a row with a teammate
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 Shaab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Youssef Hussain 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.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hamad Hussain, and the manager let it.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
Hamad Obaid knocks on the manager's door
“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 Shaab, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market10 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mahmoud Al Suwaidi has his answer from Al Shaab; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Market10 Aug 2026
The name of Youssef Hussain keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al Shaab say nothing, which says plenty.