18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nahda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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-Nahda can pretend not to have heard.
Marlon Flórez 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.
3 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Lars Veldwijk 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Rashid Al-Nemer 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. Faisal Al-Mansour 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Salem Al-Otaibi 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.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nahda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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-Nahda 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-Nahda is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nahda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Hamad Al-Dosari has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Victor Kiselev 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.
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.
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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Al-Nahda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lars Veldwijk 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.
Victor Kiselev 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 Jul 2027
Lars Veldwijk 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.
“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-Nahda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arthur Nascimento will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Nahda the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Al-Nahda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lars Veldwijk 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Al-Nahda can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“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-Nahda can pretend not to have heard.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al-Nahda know it.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Lars Veldwijk 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.
Aboubakkar Moussa 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.
3 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.
“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-Nahda can pretend not to have heard.
In brief
SquadMarlon Flórez is a better footballer than he was
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
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 words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Al-Nahda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arthur Nascimento will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Nahda the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The words a physio says slowly. 37 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 board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Hamad Al-Dosari has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The offer from Al-Fateh for Lars Veldwijk 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Nahda can pretend not to have heard.
Victor Kiselev 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.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Al-Nahda could ask drops and the wages Arthur Nascimento can ask rise.
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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.
“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-Nahda 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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Al-Nahda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lars Veldwijk 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.
Aboubakkar Moussa 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.
Squad24 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Mohammad Amini's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Nahda they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Al-Nahda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arya Delavari 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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
Boardroom90% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Nahda
“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-Nahda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Marlon Flórez 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 May 2027
Words at Al-Nahda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jaime Romero 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Al-Nahda can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Nahda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 May 2027
Jaime Romero 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Al-Nahda, another week without a signature from Victor Kiselev.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Lars Veldwijk's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Victor Kiselev 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 given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al-Nahda know it.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Al-Nahda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jaime Romero 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.
In brief
SquadThe manager has not finished forgetting Mohammad Amini's mistake
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.
“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-Nahda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arthur Nascimento will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Nahda the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Tsubasa Nishi 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 Apr 2027
Jaime Romero 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.
Jaime Romero 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 Apr 2027
Arya Delavari falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Nahda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Jaime Romero falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Nahda is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Marlon Flórez 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
Words at Al-Nahda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jaime Romero 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.
In brief
Boardroom105% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Nahda
“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-Nahda can pretend not to have heard.
“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-Nahda are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Al-Nahda training over how hard people work
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al-Nahda know it.
Victor Kiselev 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 Mar 2027
Words at Al-Nahda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jaime Romero 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.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the Al-Nahda dressing room in a hurry
“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-Nahda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Salman Al-Matar, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.66
A mark of 7.66 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. 7.97 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al-Nahda know 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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Jaime Romero 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Nahda is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nahda 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-Nahda and Al-Riyadh in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 106% of everything Al-Nahda earn
BoardroomNobody left the Al-Nahda dressing room in a hurry
“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-Nahda can pretend not to have heard.
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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al-Nahda know it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Jaime Romero falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Marlon Flórez 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.
“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-Nahda, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.91 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Nahda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Al-Nahda are no longer polite ones.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Al-Nahda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jaime Romero 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.
Aboubakkar Moussa 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.
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Al-Nahda could ask drops and the wages Lars Veldwijk can ask rise.
The offer from Al-Taawoun for Lars Veldwijk 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Farraj Al-Rashid has just signed for Al-Nahda, and for once the answer mattered.
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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Lars Veldwijk on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Al-Nahda and Al-Hazem.
2‑4 to Al-Hazem, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Al-Nahda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arya Delavari 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-Nahda can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Victor Kiselev 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Al-Nahda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jaime Romero is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every 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.
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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Al-Hazem will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Amadou Bamba has pre-agreed a move to Al-Nahda, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Jaime Romero 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Arthur Nascimento.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 10.00 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lars Veldwijk. 5‑3 against Al-Mojzel, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Jaime Romero 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Al-Nahda and Al-Mojzel, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Arya Delavari 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.
Tsubasa Nishi 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
Jaime Romero 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.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nahda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Jaime Romero 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 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.
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.
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nahda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A brace, and Lars Veldwijk takes the afternoon — 9.19
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lars Veldwijk provided it, and the 9.19 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody 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-Nahda can pretend not to have heard.
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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nahda 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. 9.66 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“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-Nahda are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nahda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.00 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Three points for Al-Nahda, 1‑0 the final word against Al-Orobah in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Arya Delavari
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Arya Delavari has come out of that comparison in the side, and Al-Nahda have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Al-Nahda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jihad Al-Zuwayid 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.
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nahda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.01 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Jaime Romero 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Arya Delavari falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ulises Agüero 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.
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nahda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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-Nahda 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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Jaime Romero 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.
58 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nahda 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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
1‑3 to Al-Njoom, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Al-Nahda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jaime Romero 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.
65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nahda 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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Al-Nahda and Al-Riyadh, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Al-Nahda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arya Delavari 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.
72 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nahda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Al-Nahda are no longer polite ones.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Al-Nahda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jaime Romero is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every 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.
79 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nahda 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-Nahda, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.93 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
86 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nahda 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-Nahda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jaime Romero 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.
93 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nahda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
0‑5 to Al-Fayha, 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of 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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Jaime Romero 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.
100 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nahda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Jaime Romero 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 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.89, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
It needed Jaime Romero to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Al-Saudi Al-Watani, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
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.
Tsubasa Nishi 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: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Al-Nahda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arya Delavari 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.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.99, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Al-Nahda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jaime Romero 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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad14 Sep 2026
15 new faces, and Al-Nahda 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.11 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Jaime Romero 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Arya Delavari 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. 25 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 ratings31 Aug 2026
A brace, and Lars Veldwijk takes the afternoon — 9.37
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lars Veldwijk provided it, and the 9.37 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.82 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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-Nahda, 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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lars Veldwijk. 3‑2 against Ohod, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Jaime Romero 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.
Jaime Romero 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Marlon Flórez 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Al-Nahda has been clear about where Mohammed Al-Harbi stands, which is more than many ever get.
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Al-Nahda have gone and got theirs early.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.15 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Al-Nahda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arya Delavari is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Al-Nahda will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
10 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Marlon Flórez has just signed for Al-Nahda, and for once the answer mattered.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abdullah Al-Dossari and Al-Nahda agree another 3 years.
Tsubasa Nishi 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
Jaime Romero falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Al-Nahda has been clear about where Ali Al-Eid stands, which is more than many ever get.