A brace, and Marius Marin takes the afternoon — 8.38
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marius Marin provided it, and the 8.38 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Nasr they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Al Nasr had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dibba, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Ramón Mierez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marius Marin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Cheickna 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.02 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Al Nasr had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al Dhafra, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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 Nasr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marius Marin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Salem Omar is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ismail Al Shamsi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Ramón Mierez at his very best
The dugoutAdib Zarei dropped after a run of poor form
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Al Nasr had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al Wahda, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
0‑2 to Al Wasl, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Al Nasr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Moreira 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.
Successful dribbles: 32. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Salem Sultan has agreed terms with Al Wasl for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
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 Nasr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dibba have kept their man, and Al Nasr go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Salem Sultan again, and this time the name on the line is Al Shaab. Al Nasr are listening politely and promising nothing.
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 Adib Zarei.
The offer from Foolad for Leonel Wamba 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.
Ramón Mierez 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.
2‑3 to Al Ahli, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Marius Marin 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Nassr have kept their man, and Al Nasr go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer from Zamalek for Ramón Mierez 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dibba is saying, and nobody at Al Nasr is enjoying the guessing.
Ramón Mierez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The phone has started ringing about Hussain Mahdi again, and this time the name on the line is Baniyas. Al Nasr are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marius Marin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Al Nasr scored in the 96th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Two goals and a mark of 9.02 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Al Nasr have done the hard part with Al Fujairah, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Al Nasr asked and Al Wasl said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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 Nasr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Al Nasr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marius Marin 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 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 it has been tried.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Nasr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Sharjah go through and Al Nasr go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Marius Marin 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 here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Mahmoud Al Bloushi chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al Nasr lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Ramón Mierez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mahmoud Al Menhali is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jônatas. 1‑0 against Al Shabab, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mahmoud Al Bloushi on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Al Nasr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mayed Saeed 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
The dugoutHussain Mahdi has become a man the manager trusts
40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al Nasr lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Kevin Agudelo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Al Nasr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marius Marin 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.
9 appearances away from home and 13 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Mahmoud Al Bloushi to a room that had heard them before.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
In brief
The dugoutChris Bedia knocks on the manager’s door
The words a physio says slowly. 49 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.
Successful dribbles: 29. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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 Nasr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Al Nasr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marius Marin 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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Al Nasr will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
12 goals in 8 games at Esteghlal — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al Nasr updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
57 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al Nasr lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Ramón Mierez 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: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Mahmoud Al Bloushi to a room that had heard them before.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hussain Mahdi, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Al Nasr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mayed Saeed 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.
64 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Nasr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ramón Mierez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jônatas. 3‑2 against Al Dhafra, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
72 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Nasr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marius Marin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ramón Mierez. 2‑0 against Al Fujairah, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Faisal Ismail has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
79 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al Nasr lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 3, 21 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.
Adib Zarei and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Al Wasl; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
11 goals in 6 games at Esteghlal — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al Nasr updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Ramón Mierez
The dugoutAdib Zarei has become a man the manager trusts
86 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al Nasr lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al Nasr have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ramón Mierez 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. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Al Nasr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marius Marin 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 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.
Kevin Agudelo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Omar Ahmed Mohammed is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Al Nasr and Al Ahli in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jônatas. 2‑1 against Al Ain, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mahmoud Suqrat is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Khalid Al Bloushi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
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 Nasr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Marius Marin 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ramón Mierez. 3‑1 against Dibba, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mahmoud Al Bloushi on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Nasr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ramón Mierez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Abdoulaye Touré scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Al Wahda, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Marius Marin 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.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al Nasr lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Ramón Mierez scored in the 85th minute, Emirates Club had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Al Nasr took the lot.
Ramón Mierez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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.
A 1‑0 win over Emirates Club, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Nasr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Marius Marin 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.
Nassim Chadli 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 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Cheickna 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Chris Bedia. 2‑0 against Al Shabab, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ibrahim Juma has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al Nasr lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
A brace, and Ramón Mierez takes the afternoon — 9.05
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ramón Mierez provided it, and the 9.05 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 18 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Al Nasr until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
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 Nasr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The name of Abdoulaye Touré has come up in conversations Al Nasr were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
In brief
SquadWords at Al Nasr training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 49 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 Nasr can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Al-Faisaly for Leonel Wamba 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Al Nasr have done the hard part with Universitatea Craiova, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Al Nasr had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Rosario Central, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Kevin Agudelo 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.
Al Nasr asked and Monza said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Mayed Saeed 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.
Al Nasr had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Vicenza, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Ramón Mierez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. João Moreira wants continental football; whether Al Nasr can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marius Marin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Al Nasr have made the call to Rosario Central. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Al Nasr had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al Shabab, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Al Nasr offered $660.0K; Sharjah said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marius Marin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Al Nasr asked and Trabzonspor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Al Nasr have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
The offer from Al Ahli for Salem Sultan 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.
The offer went to Al Shabab this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
$660.0K on the table at Sharjah. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Ramón Mierez 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.
Al Nasr asked and Al Jazira said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The phone has started ringing about Mateo Karamatić again, and this time the name on the line is Al Wahda. Al Nasr are listening politely and promising nothing.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Walid Al Bloushi 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.
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 Nasr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Al Nasr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marius Marin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Al Nasr asked and Catania said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Add another name to the list: Al Ahli have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Salem Sultan. The answer from Al Nasr has not changed — yet.