Marked for Sami Al-Mansour
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Aug 2026
Hajer taken apart
0‑9 to Al-Hilal, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Sami Al-Mansour damages knee ligaments — 14 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 123 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The deal with Al-Mojzel 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.
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.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $945.6K — a club that wants Sultan Al-Sultan enough to be asked twice.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Albert Amoah 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 Hajer this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Hajer and Al-Hilal, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
Doors closed at Hajer
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
13 saves: Ali Al-Amri was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 13 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match15 Aug 2026
Hajer taken apart
0‑14 to Al-Ittihad, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad17 Aug 2026
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hajer lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 131 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The offer went to Al-Mojzel 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Hajer had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al-Shabab, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Hajer
Albert Amoah 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Nobody could stop scoring
14 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hajer and Al-Ittihad in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Albert Amoah, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hajer lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hajer will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market10 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 targets10 Aug 2026
Al-Shabab wanted more than $850.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Hajer
Albert Amoah and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sami Al-Mansour 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Abdullah Al-Enezi 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Rashid Al-Sultan 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Hajer will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.