“I have supported clubs like this one. I know what a bad Saturday feels like here.” The new man starts with nothing behind him and everything in front of him.
“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.
Position 3, 61 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.
Moussa 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Mario Mitaj 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.
11 goals in 21 games at Tractor — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al-Ittihad updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
38 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
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-Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Al-Ittihad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Mitaj is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Osama Al-Mermesh and Al-Ittihad agree another 4 years.
Moussa 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.
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
MarketOsama Al-Mermesh returns from a loan that gave him nothing
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-Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Al-Ittihad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Mitaj 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Bader Nasser has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Al-Ittihad have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
The loan was meant to give him football. 1 games and 0 goals later he is back at Al-Ittihad no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Al-Ittihad has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Position 3, 61 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.
Moussa 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Mario Mitaj 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.
11 goals in 21 games at Tractor — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al-Ittihad updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Al-Ittihad has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
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-Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Al-Ittihad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mahamadou Doumbia 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.
Day 10 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Roger Fernandes did not need any: 8.18, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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-Ittihad heard it as anything else.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Predrag Rajković and Al-Ittihad agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Moussa 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.28 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The offer from Paris Saint-Germain for Roger Fernandes 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.
“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-Ittihad, and it is not being withdrawn.
Al-Ittihad have received the call every well-run club eventually receives — somebody bigger has noticed the manager. Saying no is easy; keeping him convinced is the actual work.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Talal Haji reports back to Al-Ittihad with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Al-Ittihad hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“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-Ittihad can pretend not to have heard.
Moussa 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.
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.
Add another name to the list: Al-Shabab have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Talal Haji. The answer from Al-Ittihad has not changed — yet.
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
A brace, and Moussa Diaby takes the afternoon — 8.32
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Moussa Diaby provided it, and the 8.32 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Predrag Rajković: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
A season average of 7.44 with 19 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Roger Fernandes, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.02
A mark of 8.02 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.
Al-Ra'ed will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Al-Ittihad were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 8.38 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Roger Fernandes did not need any: 7.90, 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.
Moussa 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Mario Mitaj 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 22 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.
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Roger Fernandes, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.30
A mark of 8.30 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.
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-Ittihad have had the benefit of it.
Danilo Pereira 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-Ittihad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mahamadou Doumbia 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 phone has started ringing about Talal Haji again, and this time the name on the line is Canon Yaounde. Al-Ittihad are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Houssem Aouar in the middle of it, and Al-Khaleej unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Steven Bergwijn at his very best
Player ratingsMario Mitaj was on a different afternoon to everybody else
The offer from Fluminense for Moussa Diaby 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.29 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Moussa 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Mario Mitaj 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 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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Steven Bergwijn was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.41. 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
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Moussa Diaby at his very best
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Leonel Wamba will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Al-Ittihad escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
“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-Ittihad heard it as anything else.
A season average of 7.18 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Al-Ittihad know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody 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-Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Al-Ittihad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Mitaj 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.
A touch he did not want, a bounce he could not have read, and his name in the wrong column. There is no consoling a man after one of these, and Al-Ittihad will not try tonight.
0‑3 to Al-Ahli, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Moussa 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.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Al-Ittihad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Mitaj 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-Ittihad game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Esteghlal Khuzestan runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Abdulrahman Al-Obaid and Al-Ittihad agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Roger Fernandes, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.09
A mark of 8.09 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Moussa Diaby for 16 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Al-Ittihad will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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.
5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Al-Ittihad are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
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-Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.16, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Roger Fernandes and Al-Ittihad agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Al-Ittihad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mahamadou Doumbia 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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Al-Qadisiyah? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
10 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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Al-Ittihad scored in the 112th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Talal Haji did not need any: 7.90, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Moussa 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.
8 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.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Roger Fernandes did not need any: 8.30, and he looked the most comfortable man on the 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-Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Al-Ittihad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Mitaj 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Roger Fernandes. 2‑0 against Al-Fateh, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I did not go to Esteghlal Khuzestan to sit and watch. I want to come back to Al-Ittihad and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 11 matches say the rest.
Position 2, 30 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.
7 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.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.32, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Roger Fernandes, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.28
A mark of 8.28 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“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-Ittihad heard it as anything else.
Moussa 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.
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 87th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Roger Fernandes decided nobody was going anywhere. Al-Hilal had no time left to answer.
6 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.
A season average of 7.04 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Al-Ittihad know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody 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-Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 3‑2 win over Al-Hilal, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Al-Ittihad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Mitaj 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 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.
5 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.
Moussa 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Mario Mitaj 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Jhon Flor 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.
9 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.
“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-Ittihad, and 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
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-Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Al-Ittihad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mahamadou Doumbia 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Moussa Diaby. 1‑0 against Al-Ra'ed, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 20 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
11 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Al-Khaleej will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Al-Ittihad were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
18 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Roger Fernandes, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.06
A mark of 8.06 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Al-Ittihad are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Moussa 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Mario Mitaj 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.33 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Roger Fernandes did not need any: 7.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the 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-Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Abdulmajeed Ayash is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Al-Ittihad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Mitaj 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Steven Bergwijn was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.24. 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.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.32, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Roger Fernandes, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.14
A mark of 8.14 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“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-Ittihad heard it as anything else.
Moussa 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Diaed de Alba is living that version at Al-Ittihad, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
Marked 8.15 — 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 board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 116th minute. Al-Diriyah will replay every second of the added time for a week.
“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-Ittihad heard it as anything 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-Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Al-Ittihad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Mitaj 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Mahamadou Doumbia 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.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Ittihad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Predrag Rajković reports back to Al-Ittihad with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Moussa 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Mario Mitaj 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.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Ittihad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Roger Fernandes provided it, and the 8.27 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The phone has started ringing about Predrag Rajković again, and this time the name on the line is Sparta Prague. Al-Ittihad are listening politely and promising nothing.
“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-Ittihad, and it is not being withdrawn.
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-Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Roger Fernandes on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Al-Ittihad and Al-Wehda.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Al-Ittihad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danilo Pereira 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.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Ittihad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
7.52, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Moussa 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.
Add another name to the list: Al-Saudi Al-Watani have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Abdulhadi Matari. The answer from Al-Ittihad has not changed — yet.
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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Canon Yaounde will make the call about Rakan Kaabi this week. Al-Ittihad have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Ittihad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Youssef En-Nesyri provided it, and the 9.00 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody 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-Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Al-Ittihad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Faisal Al-Ghamdi 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.
Work is signed off on a capacity of 59053. It is the sort of decision a club is judged on twenty years later, by people who were not there when it was taken.
The words a physio says slowly. 45 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The offer from Foolad for Saleh Al-Shehri 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.
“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-Ittihad heard it as anything else.
Add another name to the list: Al-Shabab have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Muhannad Al-Shanqiti. The answer from Al-Ittihad 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-Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Al-Ittihad training over how hard people work
“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-Ittihad heard it as anything else.
The phone has started ringing about Saleh Al-Shehri again, and this time the name on the line is USM Alger. Al-Ittihad are listening politely and promising nothing.
Moussa 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.
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.
5 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.