Marked for Fahad Al-Mansour
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Turki Al-Subaie
67 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.
Match9 Sep 2026
Al-Mojzel march on in the cup
Al-Wehda are out and Al-Mojzel go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Zeke May 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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Zeke May has outgrown this division
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Al-Mojzel know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
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 Abdullah Al-Subaie left the room before anybody could ask which.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Turki Al-Subaie
88 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Ohod come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Al-Mojzel did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The deal with Al-Ettifaq 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.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Talal Al-Mutairi commits to Al-Mojzel for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
“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.
Market10 Aug 2026
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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Al-Diriyah, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fahad Al-Mansour and Al-Mojzel agree another 2 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Al-Mojzel
Turki Al-Subaie 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Diriyah have kept their man, and Al-Mojzel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Fahad Al-Mansour 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Al-Ahli: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
Fahad Al-Mansour asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The medical room confirms 64 days on the sidelines for Waleed Al-Zahrani, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Turki Al-Subaie and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets3 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Al-Mojzel
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fahad Al-Mansour was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Ali Al-Dawsari again, and this time the name on the line is Al-Njoom. Al-Mojzel are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad3 Aug 2026
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Al-Mojzel will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Market3 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Al-Qadisiyah have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.