Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $4.8M has been paid because Muhannad Al-Shanqiti is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
“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 The request is on a desk at Al-Ra'ed, and it is not being withdrawn.
$980.0K on the table at Al-Hazem. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The offer went to Al-Wehda 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.
Muhannad Al-Shanqiti 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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Muhannad Al-Shanqiti from Al-Ittihad for $4.8M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
In brief
SquadWords at Al-Ra'ed training over how hard people work
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al-Ra'ed have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Ra'ed will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Al-Ra'ed have done the hard part with Al-Ittihad, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“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 The request is on a desk at Al-Ra'ed, and it is not being withdrawn.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Al-Ra'ed have paid $2.0M for Hussain Al-Zarie, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
$1.2M was the most the club would pay and Al-Diriyah were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Juanjo Narváez 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.
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.
13 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.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Fahad Al-Otaibi recited it perfectly.
The offer went to Al-Diriyah 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.
Karim Yoda 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 bill for the sacking has arrived. Saeed Al-Harbi leaves with $8.2K for the time left on his deal, and that money buys the club nothing it can put on the pitch.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Oumar Gonzalez 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ibrahim Al-Shuail trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Juanjo Narváez signs something — a contract at Al-Ra'ed or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Ra'ed will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Nobody at Al-Ra'ed will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al-Ra'ed. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Ra'ed will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Nobody at Al-Ra'ed will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Ra'ed know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Ra'ed will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Ibrahim Al-Shuail 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mohammed Al-Dossary is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al-Ra'ed. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Ra'ed will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Oumar Gonzalez 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Juanjo Narváez signs something — a contract at Al-Ra'ed or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Al-Ra'ed will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Munther Al-Nakhli has written the date down.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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-Ra'ed this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Al-Ra'ed will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Ra'ed will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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-Ra'ed this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Abdullah Al-Joui has written the date down.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Ra'ed will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Oumar Gonzalez 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.
Nobody at Al-Ra'ed will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Ra'ed know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Ra'ed will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Oumar Gonzalez 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.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Juanjo Narváez was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nawaf Hazazi is on it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Abdullah Al-Joui has written the date down.
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-Ra'ed this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Something was said to Saleh Al-Rahmani and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“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-Ra'ed know it.
Oumar Gonzalez 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. Faisal Al-Shamrani is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mohammed Al-Dossary is on it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Ra'ed have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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-Ra'ed know it.
Karim Yoda 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.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Position 11 on 23 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.00 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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-Ra'ed are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Al-Ra'ed now know that too.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Saeed Al-Harbi to a room that had heard them before.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Nobody at Al-Ra'ed will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Hamad Al-Jayzani’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Al-Ra'ed needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Al-Ra'ed have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.96 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Oumar Gonzalez 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Saeed Al-Harbi could afford to be generous.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Nobody at Al-Ra'ed will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
13 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-Fateh next, and one man in the Al-Ra'ed dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Karim Yoda 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Al-Faisaly next, and one man in the Al-Ra'ed dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al-Ra'ed may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Al-Ra'ed close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Nassr have kept their man, and Al-Ra'ed go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Saeed Al-Harbi after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
1 for Omar Shami, marked 7.69, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Al-Ra'ed have done the hard part with Al-Riyadh, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Hilal have kept their man, and Al-Ra'ed go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Karim Yoda 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-Ra'ed asked and Al-Nahda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Karim Yoda 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.
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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Saeed Al-Harbi left the room before anybody could ask which.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Ra'ed have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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-Ra'ed can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Juanjo Narváez 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Oumar Gonzalez has his answer from Al-Ra'ed; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Marked 4.51. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Ibrahim Al-Shuail 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Al-Ahli next, and one man in the Al-Ra'ed dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Ibrahim Al-Shuail 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.
Marked 8.47 — 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.
37 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Raghid Najjar'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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Saeed Al-Harbi kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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-Ra'ed this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mohammed Al-Dossary is on it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Raghid Najjar’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Al-Ra'ed needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Two goals and a mark of 8.79 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.89 at 33, 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-Ra'ed this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Half the programme played, position 11, 9 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Saeed Al-Harbi could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutSolomon Tweh is still being punished for one mistake
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Saleh Al-Ohaymid: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Karim Yoda 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 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Al-Ra'ed can tell you which week it ends in.
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. 11 actions, 6.63, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
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-Ra'ed this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Abdullah Al-Yousif’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Al-Ra'ed needing him to play as if none of it matters.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Munther Al-Nakhli has written the date down.
Juanjo Narváez 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Nobody at Al-Ra'ed will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Ra'ed know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
7 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.
7.26, 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Ra'ed 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-Ra'ed this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Raghid Najjar, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
7 new faces, and Al-Ra'ed 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 dugout2 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Saeed Al-Harbi to a room that had heard them before.
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.
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.
Ibrahim Al-Shuail 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Saeed Al-Harbi left the room before anybody could ask which.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Abdullah Al-Joui’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Al-Ra'ed needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Nobody at Al-Ra'ed will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
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.
Oumar Gonzalez 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 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Al-Ra'ed can tell you which week it ends in.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout19 Oct 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.” Saeed Al-Harbi chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Al-Ra'ed has been clear about where Anas Al-Zahrani stands, which is more than many ever get.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Raghid Najjar’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Al-Ra'ed needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Ra'ed know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at Al-Ra'ed will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al-Ra'ed. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
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.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
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-Ra'ed this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
10 new faces, and Al-Ra'ed 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Shots: 10. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al-Ra'ed, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Chances created: 6. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Juanjo Narváez scored, was marked 7.38, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Al-Ra'ed offered $620.0K; Al-Faisaly 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.
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-Ra'ed this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
A 1‑1 draw with Najran leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Saeed Al-Harbi was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Al-Ra'ed dressing room was either.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Moussa Koné obliged against Al-Saudi Al-Watani. 2‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Al-Ra'ed.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Musaed Al-Johani 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-Ra'ed, and it is not being withdrawn.
Al-Ra'ed have gone to Al-Hilal with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Al-Ra'ed close the window on a squad of their own making
21 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Al-Ra'ed have gone to Al-Faisaly with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $182.0K — a club that wants Robin Kelder enough to be asked twice.
$170.0K on the table at Al-Fateh. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Ittihad have kept their man, and Al-Ra'ed go back to a list with one name crossed off 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-Ra'ed this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The fee is $870.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Al-Faisaly drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Al-Taawoun did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $620.0K for Ibrahim Al-Shuail, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Oumar Gonzalez 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.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Al-Taawoun have accepted the money. What Al-Ra'ed do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Everything agreed with Al-Faisaly, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.73 for the rest of it.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Al-Ra'ed have paid $550.0K for Abdullah Al-Joui, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Karim Yoda 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.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.95 on the card, and the Al-Ra'ed support went home talking about one name.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Saeed Al-Harbi kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Al-Nassr did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $2.0M for Raghid Najjar, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Al-Ra'ed have done the hard part with Al-Fayha, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Spezia is saying, and nobody at Al-Ra'ed is enjoying the guessing.
The offer went to Al-Taawoun 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.
Player ratingsMoussa Koné beats them one at a time
2Edition
The Al-Ra'ed Herald
10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondentSteady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
$2.0M settles it between the clubs for Raghid Najjar
Al-Nassr have accepted the money. What Al-Ra'ed do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al-Ra'ed have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Damac did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $220.0K for Noor Al-Rashidi, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
The chase for Abdulelah Al-Jaafari ended with $140.0K changing hands and Al-Diriyah out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Ittihad have kept their man, and Al-Ra'ed go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Nasser Al-Salem 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.
Juanjo Narváez 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Jazira have kept their man, and Al-Ra'ed go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Mohammed Al-Khaibari again, and this time the name on the line is Al-Njoom. Al-Ra'ed are listening politely and promising nothing.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Al-Ra'ed, another week without a signature from Saad Al-Salouli.