The Al-Diriyah Sentinel
Squad14 Aug 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Georges-Kévin Nkoudou
52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Diriyah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
Nobody could get near Óscar
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market14 Aug 2028
Rashid Al-Rashid asks to leave Al-Diriyah
“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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Hussain Al-Zarie is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Tempers go at Al-Diriyah
Georges-Kévin Nkoudou 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
A late step up for Phiwokuhle Mjolo
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Boardroom14 Aug 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Al-Diriyah
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Match12 Aug 2028
Al-Saudi Al-Watani take the points off Al-Diriyah
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market14 Aug 2028
Al-Diriyah promote Turki Al-Dosari from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Turki Al-Dosari 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.
In brief
- Market Al-Diriyah promote Hassan Al-Sheikh from within
- Market One of our own: Saad Al-Sheikh joins the Al-Diriyah first team
- Boardroom Al-Diriyah turn down the training-ground plan