The Emirates Club Chronicle
Squad16 Apr 2029
Majed Hassan damages knee ligaments — 41 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
Market16 Apr 2029
Elias Sagna has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Emirates Club they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Apr 2029
A falling-out at Emirates Club
Faisal Mabkhout and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Apr 2029
A row about effort at Emirates Club
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Evans Ampofo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
Abdelrahman Saleh is still paying for one afternoon at Emirates Club
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
Abdelrahman Al-Shuweihi gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
In brief
- The dugout Hamad Mohammad knocks on the manager’s door
- The dugout Baba Bello Ilou has been promised minutes
- Squad Welcome back, Hamdan Khalfan
- Loan watch Decision time nears on Abdulla Al-Nuaimi