Marked for Darwin González
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
Abdulaziz Majrashi damages knee ligaments — 45 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 45 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Abdullah Al-Owaishir 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
1‑3 to Al-Ittihad, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Al-Wehda asked and Hellas Verona 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 dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Darwin González
“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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Sultan Al-Harbi again, and this time the name on the line is Al-Shoulla. Al-Wehda are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Al-Wehda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Augustine Oladapo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Bandar Al-Khaibari after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Aug 2026
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Wehda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market24 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done: Rayyan Enad joins from Al-Fayha in a deal worth $1.1M. Now comes the harder part.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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-Wehda can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A move Rayyan Enad would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Rayyan Enad is living that version at Al-Wehda, and it tends to show in the first month.
Match22 Aug 2026
Darwin González scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Al-Ra'ed, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Augustine Oladapo 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Rayyan Enad in a row with a teammate
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-Wehda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Bandar Al-Khaibari after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to Al-Ettifaq this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.4M — a club that wants Radhi Al-Otaibi enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Al Shaab, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Abdullah Al-Owaishir 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nasser Al-Khaibari has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Fahad Al-Subaie has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Turki Al-Qahtani has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Saad Al-Mutairi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Al-Wehda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Augustine Oladapo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.