From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
Al Wasl come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Al Dhafra did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Jobson 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Muhamed Suwareh has left for Al-Ra'ed in a $390.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Market17 Aug 2026
The name of Ibrahim Bayesh keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al Dhafra say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A wage question at Al Dhafra
Jobson has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Al Dhafra would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ibrahim Bayesh commits to Al Dhafra for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Jobson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market10 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Al Dhafra will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Market10 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market3 Aug 2026
The name of Muhamed Suwareh has come up in conversations Al Dhafra were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Karim El Berkaoui and Al Dhafra agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Jobson in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al Dhafra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market3 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Jobson's contract
36 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“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.