“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 Jazira can pretend not to have heard.
Igor Serrote and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Nabil Fekir 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Fahad Rashid after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nabil Fekir signs something — a contract at Al Jazira or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Al Jazira will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.50 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al Jazira can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Arnau Pradas was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.10. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad13 Nov 2028
João Freitas 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 dugout13 Nov 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Fahad Rashid, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nabil Fekir signs something — a contract at Al Jazira or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Willyan Rocha commits to Al Jazira for another 2 years.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Al Jazira training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nabil Fekir 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.
Adrian Şut 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.
Marked 7.10 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Cristian Cuenca wants continental football; whether Al Jazira can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Al Jazira are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Marked 8.16 — 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.
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.80, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Al Jazira training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nabil Fekir 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. João Freitas has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 8.05 — 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.
Half the programme played, position 8, 17 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
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.
“I watch every Al Jazira game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al Nasr runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Al Jazira, and it is a cruel one.
Squad6 Dec 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Willyan Rocha
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Willyan Rocha has come out of that comparison in the side, and Al Jazira have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Chances created: 11. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Fahad Rashid after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
1‑4 to Al Shabab, 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.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Up for the corner, and Willyan Rocha delivers — 7.69
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Willyan Rocha scored, was marked 7.69, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Nabil Fekir 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al Jazira can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I did not go to Al Nasr to sit and watch. I want to come back to Al Jazira and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 22 matches say the rest.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑4 defeat, delivered by Fahad Rashid to a room that had heard them before.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Arnau Pradas
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Arnau Pradas has come out of that comparison in the side, and Al Jazira have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Al Jazira training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nabil Fekir 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al Jazira can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I watch every Al Jazira game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al Fujairah runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Al Shaab scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Al Jazira can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nabil Fekir was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Al Jazira game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sharjah runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“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 Jazira, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Baniyas in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Abdalla Ramadan has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.88 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al Jazira, and 4 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 93th minute. Al Fujairah will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Al Jazira offered $2.1M; Al Wahda said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Al Jazira training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nabil Fekir 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.
He is 22 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.
“I watch every Al Jazira game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al Nasr runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Fahad Rashid kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Jazira will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Al Jazira are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Iago 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.
Something was said to Stojan Leković and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdalla Ramadan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Jazira will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Position 2, 56 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Willyan Rocha 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 name of Youssef Erraoui has come up in conversations Al Jazira were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Al Jazira training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stojan Leković 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al Jazira, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
“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 Jazira, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Al Ahli had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al Jazira have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Jazira can pretend not to have heard.
$1.1M was the most the club would pay and Al Shaab were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Al Jazira asked and Al Shaab said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vinicius Mello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“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 Jazira, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al Jazira have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Al Jazira heard it as anything else.
Marcus Meloni 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.
Al Jazira asked and Al Shaab said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Malcom wants continental football; whether Al Jazira can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vinicius Mello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Something was said to Malcom and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.