The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Sultan Al Shamsi did not need any: 7.70, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.06 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Fabio Lima 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.
1 for Malek Janeer, marked 7.99, 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.
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Ahmed Abdulrahman 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fabio Lima was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 17 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Malek Janeer. 1‑0 against Al Wahda, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Ahmed Abdulrahman 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 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ibrahim Al Menhali 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.
Emirates Club made Al Ahli work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Words at Al Ahli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Faisal Omar 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.
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout10 Dec 2029
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.” Rashid Mabkhout, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Mohamed Mabkhout
A brace, and Faisal Omar takes the afternoon — 8.69
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Faisal Omar provided it, and the 8.69 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Fabio Lima 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Faisal Omar. 2‑1 against Al Shabab, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Walid Omar has come out of that comparison in the side, and Al Ahli have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
The dugout3 Dec 2029
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.” Rashid Mabkhout kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
The dugoutAli Rashid asks for a word with the manager
“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 Ahli can pretend not to have heard.
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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Words at Al Ahli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabio Lima 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.
Position 7, 20 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Ali Rashid 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.
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Faisal Omar 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Mohamed El Khaloui had Al Ahli level again within 3 minutes, and Sharjah never got to play with a lead at all.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Rashid Mabkhout to a room that had heard them before.
With 4 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. Al Ahli lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Mohamed Mabkhout's mistake
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.
Ali Rashid 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.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Fabio Lima 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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Al Ahli can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Rashid Mabkhout was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Al Ahli dressing room was either.
Ali Rashid and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Fabio Lima 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 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.
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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9.64. 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ibrahim Al Menhali 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.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Faisal Omar 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Ibrahim Al Menhali had Al Ahli level again within 4 minutes, and Al Fujairah never got to play with a lead at all.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 11 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Ali Rashid 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fabio Lima was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout22 Oct 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Rashid Mabkhout left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Ali Rashid 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Moussa Diarra is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Words at Al Ahli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabio Lima 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 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.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.37 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Day 37 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Faisal Omar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Words at Al Ahli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabio Lima 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 won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 6.68, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Malek Janeer has his answer from Al Ahli; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ali Rashid trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.01 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Ali Rashid 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.
16 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Fabio Lima 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al Ahli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ali Rashid 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.
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words at Al Ahli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Faisal Omar 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mohammed Ali and Al Ahli agree another 3 years.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
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.” Rashid Mabkhout chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 87th, and Emirates Club spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fabio Lima was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
9 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.18, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Mahmoud Rashid clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ibrahim Al Menhali provided it, and the 9.24 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 28 arrived, 18 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Words at Al Ahli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabio Lima 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 21 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.
Add another name to the list: Lechia have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Igor Serrote. The answer from Al Ahli has not changed — yet.
Ali Rashid 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.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Igor Serrote 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 is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mohammed Ali trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
“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 Ahli can pretend not to have heard.
Ali Rashid 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.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Fabio Lima 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 is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Khalid Hassan signs something — a contract at Al Ahli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al Ahli. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
40 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Saeed Saeed is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words at Al Ahli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabio Lima 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.
“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 Ahli are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Faisal Omar is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ali Rashid signs something — a contract at Al Ahli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Al Ahli offered $480.0K; Al Shaab 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.
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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Igor Serrote 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.
9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Nobody at Al Ahli 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Ahli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Ahli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al Ahli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ali Rashid 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Fabio Lima 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ibrahim Al Menhali is on it.
Ali Rashid 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.
At 22 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.
At 36 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fabio Lima was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Khalid Hassan signs something — a contract at Al Ahli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 Ahli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
At 22 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.
Ali Rashid and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Igor Serrote has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Igor Serrote 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al Ahli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Fabio Lima 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.
Al Ahli asked and Persepolis said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody at Al Ahli 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.
“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 Ahli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Ahli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmed Nader will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al Ahli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Al Ahli hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Ali Rashid 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.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Words at Al Ahli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabio Lima 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.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Al Ain is saying, and nobody at Al Ahli is enjoying the guessing.
Ali Rashid 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.
At 17 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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Đorđe Skoko has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Al Wahda wanted more than $95.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Words at Al Ahli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Serrote 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Khalid Hassan signs something — a contract at Al Ahli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
40 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
The offer from Al Jazira for Ahmed Nader 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Igor Serrote wants continental football; whether Al Ahli can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Daniiar Üsenov is living that version at Al Ahli, and it tends to show in the first month.
Al Fujairah wanted more than $140.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Fabio Lima 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Baniyas have kept their man, and Al Ahli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nasser Suqrat is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Ahli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Wasl have kept their man, and Al Ahli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Al Ahli offered $58.0K; Al Nasr 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Faisal Omar and Al Ahli agree another 4 years.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Igor Serrote 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 words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
The clubs have shaken hands with Al Shaab; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Ahli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
$470.0K was the most the club would pay and Al Nasr 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.
Ali Rashid 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 went to Emirates Club 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.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Al Ahli have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Faisal Omar 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.
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al Ahli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Ahli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Igor Serrote is on it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Ahli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ali Rashid 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Khalid Hassan signs something — a contract at Al Ahli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Ahli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ali Rashid 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.
Nobody at Al Ahli 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Ahli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Position 6 on 40 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bandar Al Hammadi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al Ahli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Ahli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Al Ahli 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Al Ahli, another week without a signature from Abdulla Al-Karbi.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdulla Al-Karbi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 Ahli can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmed Nader will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al Ahli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Ahli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al Ahli. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Ahli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ali Rashid 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.
“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 Ahli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Khalid Hassan signs something — a contract at Al Ahli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Al Ahli 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.
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 Abdulla Al-Karbi has written the date down.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Al Ahli have no good answer.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Barakat Haggag will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al Ahli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ali Rashid 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.
Al Wahda will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Khalifa Mubarak has pre-agreed a move to Al Ahli, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al Ahli can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ahmed Abdulrahman is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Ahli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Ahli 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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Al Ahli 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tarek Issaoui trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al Ahli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Ahli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He is 25, he has been here since he was a boy, and the shirt he grew up expecting has been given to somebody flown in for it. That grievance belongs to the town as much as to the player.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al Ahli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdulla Al-Karbi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al Ahli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ali Rashid 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Khalid Hassan signs something — a contract at Al Ahli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Bandar Al Hammadi is on it.
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 Ali Rashid has written the date down.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Al Ahli that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Ahli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Ahli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ali Rashid 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.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Nobody at Al Ahli 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Ahli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Ahli 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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ibrahim Al Menhali is on it.
“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 Ahli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Ahli can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmed Nader will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al Ahli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ahmed Nader has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Abdulla Al-Karbi is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Bandar Al Hammadi has come out of that comparison in the side, and Al Ahli have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Nobody at Al Ahli 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Ahli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A mark of 7.97 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Ali Rashid 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.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Al Jazira were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Ibrahim Al Menhali 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 8.22. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al Ahli.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
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.” Mahmoud Rashid, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Barakat Haggag will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al Ahli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Victor Okoro has agreed terms with Al Shabab for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Ali Rashid 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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Al Ahli can tell you which week it ends in.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Ahli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Rashed Issam has, at Al Ahli, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Al Ahli close the window on a squad of their own making
5 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Ahli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Al Ahli will try again when the window opens; Sharjah may not be selling by then.
“I watch every Al Ahli game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al Shabab runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Ahli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The offer went to Al Wasl 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Al Ahli have done the hard part with Al Ain, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Al Ain is saying, and nobody at Al Ahli is enjoying the guessing.
Ali Rashid 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ibrahim Al-Hosani has, at Al Ahli, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Al Ahli asked and Al Nasr 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Al Ahli people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The offer from Al Shabab for Khalfan Al Naqbi 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Ahli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Everything agreed with Al Fujairah, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Baniyas is saying, and nobody at Al Ahli is enjoying the guessing.
Ahmed Abdulrahman 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 Dibba for Abdulla Al-Karbi 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 offer went to Al Wasl 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hasan Al-Muharrami will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al Ahli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Nasr have kept their man, and Al Ahli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Abdulla Al-Karbi will call it something else in private.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Getting past Ahmed Abdulrahman has become the hardest job in the division
10 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Ahli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
A mark of 7.91 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Abdulla Al-Karbi has agreed terms with Sharjah for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
The phone has started ringing about Khalfan Al Naqbi again, and this time the name on the line is Al Shabab. Al Ahli are listening politely and promising nothing.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Ahli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.88 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Ali Rashid 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.
He is 21 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.
A goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and Ahmed Abdulrahman now has 25 of them across 59 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Ahli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al Ahli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ali Rashid 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Al Ahli has been clear about where Khalfan Al Naqbi stands, which is more than many ever get.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Ahli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ibrahim Al Menhali did not need any: 7.84, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.05 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al Ahli can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mahmoud Rashid after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Nobody at Al Ahli 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al Ahli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Ahli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
4 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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Barakat Haggag has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Ahmed Abdulrahman 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.
“I watch every Al Ahli game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al Shabab runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Ahli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 16 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Ali Rashid 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.
Position 4, 24 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mahmoud Rashid after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Ahli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Ahli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ahmed Abdulrahman is on it.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Mahmoud Rashid after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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 crowd waited for a goal that never came. Sharjah defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al Ahli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ibrahim Al Menhali is on it.
“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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Ibrahim Al Menhali scored in the 87th minute, Al Dhafra had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Al Ahli took the lot.
A mark of 8.05 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Ali Rashid 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.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Ahli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Ali Rashid 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.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Al Fujairah tried to reorganise, Al Ahli did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Ahli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ibrahim Al Menhali did not need any: 7.91, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Faisal Abdulrahman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al Ahli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Level with 91 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Al Ahli had all but put away. Al Wasl will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Ahli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
A brace, and Fabio Lima takes the afternoon — 8.94
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Fabio Lima provided it, and the 8.94 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
“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 Ahli know it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Ahli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Ibrahim Al Menhali obliged against Al Dhafra. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Al Ahli.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Al Ahli scored in the 118th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ibrahim Al Menhali did not need any: 9.51, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Ali Rashid 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.
Ali Rashid 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.
“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 Ahli, and 1 appearances in 16 say he has earned the hearing.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Đorđe Skoko, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Oct 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for Amadou Niang
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Amadou Niang has come out of that comparison in the side, and Al Ahli have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Faisal Abdulrahman has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Mahmoud Rashid was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Al Ahli dressing room was either.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Faisal Abdulrahman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al Ahli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Al Ahli will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Ali Rashid 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.
Al Ahli ran out of time with Al Wasl. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
A 1‑0 win over Emirates Club, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mahmoud Rashid on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
Al Ahli and Al Wasl have settled on $1.0M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Al Ahli close the window on a squad of their own making
15 in and 19 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
A new deal for the man in the dugout, and the clearest thing a board can say without calling a press conference about it. Stability is cheap to promise and expensive to deliver.
Ali Rashid 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 name of Mohamed Mabkhout has come up in conversations Al Ahli were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al Ahli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Faisal Abdulrahman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al Ahli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The name of Faisal Omar has come up in conversations Al Ahli were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Porto is saying, and nobody at Al Ahli is enjoying the guessing.
Ahmed Abdulrahman and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Malek Janeer has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 5 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Đorđe Skoko has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 5 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
“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 Ahli are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ibrahim Al Menhali is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Ahli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ibrahim Al Menhali is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Shaab have kept their man, and Al Ahli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Ahli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ali Rashid 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 phone has started ringing about Mohamed Mabkhout again, and this time the name on the line is Sepahan. Al Ahli are listening politely and promising nothing.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mansour Saleh is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
A season average of 7.01 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Al Ahli know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Ali Rashid 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.
“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 Ahli, and 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Faisal Omar is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Khalid Hassan signs something — a contract at Al Ahli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Al Ahli have gone to Al Shabab with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Ahli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Malek Janeer, and the manager let it.
Squad31 Jul 2028
5 new faces, and Al Ahli 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.
Nobody at Al Ahli 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.
The deal with Al Wahda is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when 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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 33 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Ahli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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 Ahli, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 20 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Ahli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ali Rashid 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 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
“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 Ahli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Ahli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Ahli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Al Ahli asked and Al Jazira said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ahmed Abdulrahman 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Ahli 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 Ahli, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Ahli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Besiktas is saying, and nobody at Al Ahli is enjoying the guessing.
Al Ahli asked and Al Wasl said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Al Ahli will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
“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 Ahli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Al Ahli asked and Al Jazira 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 offer from Padideh for Mohamed Mabkhout 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 offer went to Al Wasl 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al Ahli 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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Faisal Omar had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“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 Ahli can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have shaken hands with Al Ain; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Al Ahli had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Portsmouth, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Ain have kept their man, and Al Ahli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ali Rashid 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.
$170.0K was the most the club would pay and Al Shabab 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Victor Okoro has just signed for Al Ahli, and for once the answer mattered.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al Jazira keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Al Ahli 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Ahli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The phone has started ringing about Faisal Omar again, and this time the name on the line is Al-Ittihad. Al Ahli are listening politely and promising nothing.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Faisal Abdulrahman has agreed terms with Al Wasl for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Ahmed Abdulrahman 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 offer went to Al Jazira 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.
Al Ahli have gone to Baniyas with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
$1.7M 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Ahli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Al Ahli have made the call to Portsmouth. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Ahli 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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Al Ahli 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Ahli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Al Ahli will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Position 6 on 42 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Al Ahli could ask drops and the wages Taoufik Ijrouten can ask rise.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Khalfan Al Naqbi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Not a month, not a run of form — a whole season of being the best 20-year-old anybody in this division could put on a pitch. This is the honour that gets mentioned for the rest of his career.
Ahmed Abdulrahman 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ibrahim Al Menhali is on it.
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad22 May 2028
Atiq Esam 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 is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Al Ahli can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hassan Al Hashmi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al Ahli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ali Rashid 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ahmed Abdulrahman is on it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fábio Fernandes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al Ahli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ahmed Abdulrahman and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Al Ahli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Ghorbani 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Igor Serrote is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ali Rashid signs something — a contract at Al Ahli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Al Ahli would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
7 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Al Ahli could ask drops and the wages Faisal Abdulrahman can ask rise.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Taoufik Ijrouten will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al Ahli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdulla Al-Karbi, and the manager let it.
Squad1 May 2028
Omar Hassan 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 is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Ahli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Taoufik Ijrouten is 38, with 25 appearances behind him, and Al Ahli will have to plan for whichever answer comes.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Al Ahli will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Ahmed Abdulrahman 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Ghorbani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ibrahim Al Menhali is on it.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Khalid Hassan has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Ahli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ali Rashid 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Al Ahli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Ghorbani 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ahmed Abdulrahman is on it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Ahli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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 Ali Rashid signs something — a contract at Al Ahli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Ali Rashid has written the date down.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Al Ahli the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Ahli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 Ahli 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 Mohammad Ghorbani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Al Ahli, another week without a signature from Abdulla Al-Karbi.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdulla Al-Karbi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Faisal Omar is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Ahli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Al Ahli will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al Ahli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ali Rashid 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ibrahim Al Menhali is on it.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Al Ahli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fábio Fernandes 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 looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Al Ahli the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Majed Juma
SquadWalid Nader is training like a man with a point to make
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Ahli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ahmed Abdulrahman 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.
“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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Al Ahli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omar Hassan 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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 Ali Rashid has written the date down.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Ahli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 Ahli can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Fábio Fernandes has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Ghorbani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Igor Serrote is on it.
Something was said to Modou Niang and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ali Rashid signs something — a contract at Al Ahli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Ahmed Abdulrahman has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
In brief
BoardroomThe Al Ahli production line keeps running
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Ahli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 Ahli 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 young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Al Ahli who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Ahli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Position 6 on 42 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
The 85th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Majed Juma decided nobody was going anywhere. Al Jazira had no time left to answer.
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.
Ali Rashid 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
A 2‑1 win over Al Jazira, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Majed Juma was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.33. 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.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Ali Rashid was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. 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 dugout28 Feb 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.” Mahmoud Rashid, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
A season average of 7.01 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Al Ahli know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Ali Rashid 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 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Igor Serrote 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Ghorbani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A mark of 8.00 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Al Ahli asked and Al Jazira 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 Mohammad Ghorbani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Igor Serrote is on it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Al Ahli, another week without a signature from Mohamed El Khaloui.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Ahli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 4 signed and 10 gone
That is the business done at Al Ahli until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Taoufik Ijrouten has agreed terms with Al Nasr for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Majed Juma wins it after the whistle should have gone
92 minutes played. Majed Juma found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Al Fujairah went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Ahmed Abdulrahman 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.
Three points for Al Ahli, 1‑0 the final word against Al Fujairah in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
Majed Juma was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.28. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Ghorbani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Abdulla Al-Karbi.