“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Diriyah have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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-Diriyah 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.
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-Diriyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of 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-Diriyah are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Óscar was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.92. 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.
At 23 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.
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-Diriyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al-Diriyah know it.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Gaëtan Laborde 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Getting past Waleed Abdullah has become the hardest job in the division
14 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
438% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Diriyah
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Georges-Kévin Nkoudou. 2‑0 against Al-Ta'ee, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.51, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Al-Diriyah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Óscar 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.
Marked 8.31 — 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Meshari Al-Nemer provided it, and the 8.38 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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-Diriyah 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.
Nobody at Al-Diriyah 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.
Al-Diriyah spent the window trying to move Pablo Ocampo on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
“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-Diriyah can pretend not to have heard.
0‑2 to Al-Hazem, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Al-Diriyah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sultan Farhan 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-Diriyah, and 0 appearances in 0 say he has earned the hearing.
Talal Al-Shubili 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.
“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-Diriyah, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Ohod for Meshari Al-Nemer 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.
Waleed Abdullah 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 easiest signature of my career.” Abdullah Al-Joui and Al-Diriyah agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Gaëtan Laborde was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. 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.
“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-Diriyah can pretend not to have heard.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Yuta Tanaka is living that version at Al-Diriyah, and it tends to show in the first month.
The chase for Abdullah Al-Joui ended with $280.0K changing hands and Al-Fayha out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
13 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Waleed Abdullah has given nobody the chance.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
502% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Diriyah
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
At 23 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.
Al-Mojzel paid $240.0K and Al-Diriyah took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Al-Diriyah pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
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-Diriyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Sultan Farhan 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Omar Colley signs something — a contract at Al-Diriyah or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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-Diriyah, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Diriyah have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Gaëtan Laborde 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.
18 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
The offer from Al-Taawoun for Omar Colley 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.
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-Diriyah will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
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-Diriyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Faisal Al-Mutairi again, and this time the name on the line is Al-Fayha. Al-Diriyah are listening politely and promising nothing.
1 for Abdulaziz Al-Faraj, marked 7.98, 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.
Gaëtan Laborde 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.
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.
Waleed Abdullah 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Meshari Al-Nemer 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 7.82 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Al-Diriyah had the best player on the pitch.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Sultan Farhan 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Diriyah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Marked 9.09 — 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.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Diriyah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abdulelah Al-Malki and Al-Diriyah agree another 2 years.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Diriyah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Gaëtan Laborde 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Meshari Al-Nemer. 2‑1 against Al-Riyadh, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 23 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.
8.64. 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eliandro, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Al-Diriyah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sultan Farhan 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Diriyah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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-Diriyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Al-Diriyah told Omar Colley something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Meshari Al-Nemer provided it, and the 8.50 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Meshari Al-Nemer. 2‑0 against Al-Saudi Al-Watani, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
16 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
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-Diriyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Nobody at Al-Diriyah 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.
Gaëtan Laborde 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Óscar was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.90. 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Óscar. 2‑0 against Al-Ettifaq, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Waleed Abdullah: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Sultan Farhan 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.
Nobody at Al-Diriyah 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.
Óscar was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.88. 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.
At 23 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.
A 2‑0 win over Ohod, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Al-Diriyah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sultan Farhan 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.
Marked 8.07 — 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Hussain Al-Zarie is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The bid was some way short and Al-Diriyah did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 29 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
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-Diriyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“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-Diriyah can pretend not to have heard.
The name of Abdulelah Al-Jaafari has come up in conversations Al-Diriyah were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
8.63. 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Al-Diriyah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sultan Farhan 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.
Talal Al-Ahmadi 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
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-Diriyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
1 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sultan Al-Juhani 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Sultan Farhan 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Gaëtan Laborde 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Al-Diriyah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sultan Farhan 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Al-Diriyah, another week without a signature from Óscar.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Al-Diriyah know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
24 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.