95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Ain lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Valentino Lazaro 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 32 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Nasser Al Menhali has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ali Al Menhali is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mohamed Ismail has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
“I watch every Al Ain game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dibba runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
In brief
The dugoutMatías Palacios has become a man the manager trusts
The words a physio says slowly. 103 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Marcel Ratnik is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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 Ain this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Al Ain training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Palacios is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I watch every Al Ain game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al Fujairah runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Al Ain 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.
111 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Ain lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Qizilqum for Gustavo Ulguim 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.
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 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.
“I watch every Al Ain game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dibba runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Al Ain 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.
“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 Ain, 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 Ain 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 Ain this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Al Ain 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.
“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 Ain, and it is not being withdrawn.
Valentino Lazaro 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 32 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.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Al Ain training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Palacios 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Ain know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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 Ain, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Mobin Dehghan on the training pitch
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 Ain this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Al Shaab have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Yohan González. The answer from Al Ain has not changed — yet.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Al Ain training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adis Jašić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al Ain, and 0 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al Ain, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Ain would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The offer from Al Wahda for Caio Lucas 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.
Al Shaab pay $380.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Al Ain training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Palacios 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.
8 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.
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 Caio Lucas is on it.
Position 2, 65 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al Ain have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Ain can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Ain is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Valentino Lazaro 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 15 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.
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.
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.
Valentino Lazaro 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 have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Houssine Rahimi 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Ain know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mohammed Abbas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Mazyad Freeh a promise
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Al Ain people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Zamalek for Adis Jašić 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.
Al Ain offered $5.2M; Al Jazira 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.
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.
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 Ain this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Al Ain training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Palacios 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.
Al Ain have gone to Al Jazira 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.
“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 Ain 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.
At 23 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.
“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 Ain can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Position 2, 65 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sharjah have kept their man, and Al Ain go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Baniyas have accepted the money. What Al Ain do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Ain is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Al Ain had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dibba, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Valentino Lazaro 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
In brief
Transfer targetsNo deal for Youssef Juma at that price
SquadWords at Al Ain training over how hard people work
Valentino Lazaro was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Al Ain 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 Ain know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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 Ain, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al Ain. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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 Ain the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Squad31 May 2027
Questions about Mazyad Freeh on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Marcel Ratnik
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 Ain 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.
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 Ain know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Houssine Rahimi plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Al Ain had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Giorgos Giakoumakis 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.
Squad17 May 2027
16 clean sheets and the golden glove for Khalid Eisa
The one award on the pitch nobody else can win. 16 games in a season in which nobody scored past him, and a career that will be measured against this one.
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 Kaku is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Valentino Lazaro signs something — a contract at Al Ain 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 Ain, and both men came out saying it was fine.
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al Ain lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al Ain 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 Ain they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Valentino Lazaro 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 have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Al Ain training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Palacios 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.
Nobody at Al Ain 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.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Ain lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Valentino Lazaro was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Al Ain 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 Ain know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
44 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al Ain lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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 Ain this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Al Ain 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 Ain know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Houssine Rahimi has written the date down.
52 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al Ain lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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 Ain 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 Matías Palacios 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 Kaku is on it.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
59 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Ain lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 2, 65 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Ain is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Valentino Lazaro was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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 Giorgos Giakoumakis signs something — a contract at Al Ain or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 Ain will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
66 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Ain lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Valentino Lazaro 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 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 Matías Palacios is on it.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Al Ain training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Abbas is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Mazyad Freeh 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.
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 Houssine Rahimi has written the date down.
74 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al Ain lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Giorgos Giakoumakis 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 Matías Palacios was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matías Palacios trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 words a physio says slowly. 82 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.
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 Ain this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
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 Kaku is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al Ain. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The words a physio says slowly. 90 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.
At 18 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 Ain they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Valentino Lazaro 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 Houssine Rahimi 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 Caio Lucas is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Giorgos Giakoumakis signs something — a contract at Al Ain or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
98 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al Ain lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Valentino Lazaro 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.
Nobody at Al Ain 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.
0 appearances, 0 clean sheets, and a goalkeeper no further forward than the day he left. Whether that belongs to him, to the club that borrowed him or to the people who arranged it is the argument Al Ain will have this month.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Houssine Rahimi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Lautaro Montenegro has written the date down.
107 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Ain lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
14 seasons and 29 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Getting past Khalid Eisa has become the hardest job in the division
16 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
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 Ain this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
15 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Al Ain training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Houssine Rahimi 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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Al Jazira? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Ain they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Valentino Lazaro 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Al Ain training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Palacios 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Al Wahda is saying, and nobody at Al Ain is enjoying the guessing.
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Valentino Lazaro 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 want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Al Ain heard it as anything else.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Al Ain training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Palacios is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Al Ain people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Wahda have kept their man, and Al Ain go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Al Ain 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.
$910.0K on the table at Al Wahda. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It finished 2‑1, and it was Caio Lucas’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Al Ain.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Caio Lucas was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.38. 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Al Ain training over how hard people work
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Jazira have kept their man, and Al Ain go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$900.0K was the most the club would pay and Al Wahda 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.
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 Ain this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadMatías Palacios falls out with a teammate over standards
Position 2, 49 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al Ain have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Al Ain had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al Jazira, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Valentino Lazaro 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 now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Wahda have kept their man, and Al Ain go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Al Ain training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Palacios 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Al Ahli waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Al Ain is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Valentino Lazaro 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.
$230.0K on the table at Al Jazira. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
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.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Al Ain have had the benefit of it.
$4.0M was the most the club would pay and Al Jazira 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.
At 18 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.
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.
$250.0K on the table at Al Wasl. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Caio Lucas 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 going to Corinthians, the club has $12.4M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
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 Ain 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 Matías Palacios was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Modou Niang did not need any: 7.62, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Soufiane Rahimi 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 Soufiane Rahimi again, and this time the name on the line is Corinthians. Al Ain are listening politely and promising nothing.
Soufiane Rahimi 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.” Majed Nader on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
SquadMohammed Abbas 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Valentino Lazaro has come out of that comparison in the side, and Al Ain have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Yaman Zanirni
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Majed Nader after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Yaman Zanirni has moved up it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.51 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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 Ain this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Caio Lucas was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.10. 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Position 2, 34 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Majed Nader on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Soufiane Rahimi 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.
Marked 7.99. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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.” Majed Nader kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
14 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Ain know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Soufiane Rahimi 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Al Ain training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Palacios is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
“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 Ain, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Majed Nader to a room that had heard them before.
4 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
9 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.90 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Adis Jašić 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Baniyas spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Soufiane Rahimi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.42. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al Ain this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.32 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Marked 8.08 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
7 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.39 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.48 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Soufiane Rahimi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match24 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Al Ain. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Marked 8.54 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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.
Valentino Lazaro 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.
100 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Bandar Ismail is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Hamdan Al Junaibi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
At 18 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Matías Palacios. 2‑0 against Al Nasr, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.23. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al Ain.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Matías Palacios was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.17. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Majed Nader, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
SquadMohammed Abbas falls out with a teammate over standards
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Caio Lucas scored in the 87th minute, Al Ahli had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Al Ain took the lot.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
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 Ain this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Hazim Abbas 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.96 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Valentino Lazaro 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gustavo Ulguim is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Marked 8.40 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Majed Nader, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
Valentino Lazaro 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 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Al Ain and Dibba in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ibrahim Juma is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Al Ain training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Palacios 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Ain know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Successful dribbles: 42. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 16 signed and 8 gone
That is the business done at Al Ain 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.
Add another name to the list: Rubin have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Houssine Rahimi. The answer from Al Ain has not changed — yet.
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 Ain this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 21 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.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Faisal Ismail is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Al Ain ran out of time with Al Nasr. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Mohammed Abbas had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dibba is saying, and nobody at Al Ain is enjoying the guessing.
Soufiane Rahimi 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 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ismaila Okpoti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Ain know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Eid Al-Hammadi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Houssine Rahimi had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Al Ain 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.
“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 Ain, and it is not being withdrawn.
Soufiane Rahimi 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. João Marcos is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Al Ain training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Palacios is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The name of Houssine Rahimi has come up in conversations Al Ain were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The offer from JS Kabylie for Kouamé Autonne 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.
Soufiane Rahimi 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Majed Hussain has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ahmed Al Junaibi has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ismail Al Kamali is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad10 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Al Ain 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Al Ain training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Abbas 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al Ain, 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 Ain 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 Soufiane Rahimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.