“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 The request is on a desk at Al-Batin, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bader Nasser will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Batin the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Marco Medel 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Azzam Al-Bishi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Simon Falette 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.
Simon Falette 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 Mar 2027
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Medel 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 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Al-Batin will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Youssouf M'Changama and Al-Batin agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
“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-Batin, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bader Nasser will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Batin the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Bader Nasser has agreed terms with Al-Ittihad for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Abdoulay Diaby 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Falette 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Batin 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.
Simon Falette 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-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alberto Martínez 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 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.
Mazyad Freeh 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Simon Falette 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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. Al-Jeel defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin 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-Batin, and it is not being withdrawn.
6 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Batin have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Simon Falette 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alberto Martínez 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 sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Al-Batin have gone and got theirs early.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 11 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Bader Nasser’s negotiating for him
MarketThe window shut and Turki Al-Jalfan is still in the building
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
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-Batin 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.
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.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Abdoulay Diaby will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Al-Batin escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
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.
Abdoulay Diaby 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Falette is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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 Najran for Bader Nasser 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Simon Falette 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. 47 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.
Simon Falette 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alberto Martínez 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.
55 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Simon Falette 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.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 222% of everything Al-Batin earn
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Isaías Rodríguez, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.64
A mark of 7.64 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.99 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Marco Medel 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Falette 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.
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 10 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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-Batin 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.
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 9 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Falette 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.
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
8 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.
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-Batin 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.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 216% of everything Al-Batin earn
60 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin 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-Batin, and it is not being withdrawn.
7 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.
Abdoulay Diaby 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
67 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Simon Falette 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.
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Batin have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Simon Falette 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alberto Martínez 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.
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.
Ali Al-Subaie is 14, and Al-Batin have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Al-Batin can tell you which week it ends in.
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.
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Falette 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.
95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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-Batin 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.
102 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.07 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Simon Falette 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alberto Martínez 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.
Sultan Al-Otaibi is 16, and Al-Batin have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
109 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Simon Falette 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 8.06 — 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.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Isaías Rodríguez is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
116 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Simon Falette 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Medel 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.
123 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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-Batin 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.
130 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.03 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Falette 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.
Sultan Al-Sulami is 14, and Al-Batin have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
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.
Isaías Rodríguez, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.88
A mark of 7.88 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.
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-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Simon Falette 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
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.
Simon Falette 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alberto Martínez 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Batin 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-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Al-Batin and Al-Diriyah in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Simon Falette 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.
Simon Falette 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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Al-Batin know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Simon Falette 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Turki Al-Jalfan 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 is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Al-Batin know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Al-Batin, another week without a signature from Simon Falette.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Youssouf M'Changama and Al-Batin agree another 2 years.
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-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Simon Falette 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 name of Tariq Al-Mutairi has come up in conversations Al-Batin were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Al-Batin, another week without a signature from Youssouf M'Changama.
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.