“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Damac had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The offer from ES Setif for Silvère Ganvoula was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Match23 Jan 2027
Another one collected away from home
8 on the bounce on the road for Al-Fayha. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
1 for Alfa Semedo, marked 7.95, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Paulo Oliveira 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
In brief
SquadWords at Al-Fayha training over how hard people work
The clubs have shaken hands with Al-Diriyah; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
7 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Al-Fayha will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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-Fayha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Mikel Villanueva 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Al-Mojzel tried to reorganise, Al-Fayha did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
A performance of 8.87 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Jason was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.35. 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.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Fayha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mikel Villanueva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sultan Al-Enezi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Nasser Al-Enezi to a room that had heard them before.
“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-Fayha, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against Al-Shoulla, and it could have been more.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A brace, and Alfa Semedo takes the afternoon — 8.13
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alfa Semedo provided it, and the 8.13 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Mikel Villanueva 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.
At 21 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.
Successful dribbles: 29. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Mikel Villanueva 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.
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.
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.
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Al-Fayha now.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Nasser Al-Enezi chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Abdulrahman Al-Anazi has his answer from Al-Fayha; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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-Fayha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mikel Villanueva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It finished 2‑0, and it was Silvère Ganvoula’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Al-Fayha.
Match14 Nov 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Al-Fayha. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Jason was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.24. 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.
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-Fayha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A performance of 8.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Al-Fayha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdullah Al-Joui 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 watch every Al-Fayha game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al-Njoom runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Nasser Al-Enezi on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Fayha know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Paulo Oliveira 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Stylianos Vrontis 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.
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.36, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Jason was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
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.” Nasser Al-Enezi, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Muntathir Al-Shaqaq has, at Al-Fayha, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Paulo Oliveira 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 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.
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Al-Fayha has been clear about where Sultan Al-Jabri stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Nasser Al-Enezi to a room that had heard them before.
Al-Saudi Al-Watani will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Al-Fayha were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Silvère Ganvoula provided it, and the 9.06 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jason provided it, and the 8.38 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The deal that would have taken Makhir Al-Rashidi to Al-Ittihad has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Al-Fayha with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Chris Smalling was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Al-Qadisiyah go through and Al-Fayha go home, 0‑0 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Al-Hilal moved on, Silvère Ganvoula reports back to Al-Fayha, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
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-Fayha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Jason had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The deal that would have taken Rayyan Enad to Al-Ra'ed has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Al-Fayha with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The name of Silvère Ganvoula has come up in conversations Al-Fayha were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 7 arrived, 13 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Paulo Oliveira 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 offer from Al-Ittihad for Jason was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 5 of the 24 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Al-Hilal paid $4.1M and Al-Fayha took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
“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-Fayha can pretend not to have heard.
The phone has started ringing about Alfa Semedo again, and this time the name on the line is Al-Hilal. Al-Fayha are listening politely and promising nothing.
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-Fayha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Al-Ettifaq left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Nasser Al-Enezi to a room that had heard them before.
Squad31 Aug 2026
5 new faces, and Al-Fayha are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al-Fayha have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Al-Shoulla will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Al-Fayha were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The offer from Al-Ahli for Alfa Semedo was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
7.96, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mikel Villanueva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Fashion Sakala was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.17. 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.