Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Youssef Al Menhali will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al Shaab the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Hamad Obaid 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.
“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 Shaab, and 11 appearances in 33 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 Shaab, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Yassine Abdelali has written the date down.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Thiago Machado signs something — a contract at Al Shaab or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Successful dribbles: 34. 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Shaab they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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 Shaab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 5 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Hicham Khaloua will call it something else in private.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Amer Ismail was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Al Shaab dressing room was either.
In brief
SquadWords at Al Shaab training over how hard people work
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Shaab lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Al Shaab people have started saying his name in the past tense.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
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.
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 Shaab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Amer Ismail after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Asher Agbinone is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of David Valero
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Shaab lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Shaab, 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 Shaab have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Al Wahda for Hamad Obaid 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Al Shaab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdullah Al Shamsi 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 98 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.
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Al Shaab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdullah Al Shamsi 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.
Brahim Sabaouni 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.
Half the programme played, position 6, 18 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Amer Ismail after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 105 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.
Abdullah Al Shamsi 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.
Al Fujairah left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
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 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Amer Ismail to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luigi Longo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Al Wahda next, and one man in the Al Shaab dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Luigi Longo will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Al Shaab escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdullah Al Shamsi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Shaab, and 2 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
Brahim Sabaouni 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 are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Baniyas? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Al Shaab has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Dibba scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Al Shaab are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Amer Ismail was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Al Shaab dressing room was either.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Al Shaab have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.