The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Al-Riyadh people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Najran for Jan Petek 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-Riyadh can pretend not to have heard.
The offer went to Al-Orobah 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tozé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nasser Al-Bishi 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.
4 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.
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 Sulaiman Hazazi is on it.
“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 The request is on a desk at Al-Riyadh, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Riyadh is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The name of Jan Petek has come up in conversations Al-Riyadh were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Al-Wehda is saying, and nobody at Al-Riyadh is enjoying the guessing.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Al-Riyadh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tozé 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.
Nasser Al-Bishi 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 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
9 new faces, and Al-Riyadh 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.
Al-Ahli have accepted the money. What Al-Riyadh do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
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.
“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-Riyadh, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Khalil Al-Absi is on it.
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Al-Riyadh would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Al-Riyadh people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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-Riyadh can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Al-Riyadh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tozé 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Ahli have kept their man, and Al-Riyadh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Rakan Al-Harbi 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.
11 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
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 Yoann Barbet is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Riyadh know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Al-Riyadh people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The phone has started ringing about Nasser Al-Bishi again, and this time the name on the line is Al-Njoom. Al-Riyadh are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tozé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Al-Riyadh has been clear about where Saud Zaydan stands, which is more than many ever get.
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-Riyadh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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-Riyadh can pretend not to have heard.
29 appearances and 0 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver 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-Riyadh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 May 2028
9 new faces, and Al-Riyadh 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hussain Al-Raqwani trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Al-Riyadh will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Baihaqi Rifai is living that version at Al-Riyadh, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tozé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Everybody at Al-Riyadh saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 37 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Nobody at Al-Riyadh 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.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al-Riyadh may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Al-Riyadh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tozé 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-Riyadh 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Riyadh know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nasser Al-Bishi 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.
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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“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-Riyadh can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Nasser Al-Bishi 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 Sulaiman Hazazi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a 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.
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.
“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-Riyadh, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Riyadh know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Rodrigo Abascal’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Sharpest man there all week, by every account. It is the quietest line on this page and it usually runs the week before somebody’s run in the side begins.
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-Riyadh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Apr 2028
6 new faces, and Al-Riyadh 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.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Riyadh know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Saad Haqawi has written the date down.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jathob Al-Dhafieri trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Al-Riyadh the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tozé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
14 clean sheets from 30 appearances at Al-Shoulla. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Al-Riyadh will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
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.
18 goals and a season average of 7.21 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Al-Riyadh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tozé 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-Ta'ee held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Al-Riyadh answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
“I watch every Al-Riyadh game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Najran runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
Nobody at Al-Riyadh 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 Khalil Al-Absi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Al-Riyadh needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Riyadh know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Chen Shuhang trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
A side in position 3 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tozé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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-Riyadh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad20 Mar 2028
7 new faces, and Al-Riyadh 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 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.
Nobody at Al-Riyadh 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-Riyadh know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
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.
Nasser Al-Bishi 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.
14 clean sheets from 28 appearances at Al-Shoulla. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
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 Sulaiman Hazazi is on it.
Milan Borjan 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Leandro Antunes has come out of that comparison in the side, and Al-Riyadh have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
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.” Nasser Al-Juhani kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Luca Ramirez has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
16 goals and a season average of 7.20 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Al-Riyadh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tozé 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.
13 clean sheets from 26 appearances at Al-Shoulla. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Nobody at Al-Riyadh 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Riyadh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Hamad Al-Khaibari has, at Al-Riyadh, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Al-Riyadh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tozé is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Victor Lekhal will call it something else in private.
6 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Al-Riyadh and Al-Mojzel, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Marked 9.57 — 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Faisaly have kept their man, and Al-Riyadh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Al-Riyadh close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 7 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.
Milan Borjan 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 said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tozé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
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 Nasser Al-Juhani to a room that had heard them before.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Saad Haqawi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 67 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Trezeguet 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Al-Riyadh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tozé 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Damac have kept their man, and Al-Riyadh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
74 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Riyadh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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-Riyadh, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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-Riyadh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Diego Cortés has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Al-Riyadh have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
81 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Riyadh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Al-Khaleej waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Al-Riyadh is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Milan Borjan 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Ahli have kept their man, and Al-Riyadh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The name of Abdulquddus Atiah has come up in conversations Al-Riyadh were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
20 appearances at Al-Shoulla and the goals have stopped going in. Al-Riyadh lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
88 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Riyadh 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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Saud Zaydan has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Al-Riyadh have gone to Al-Ta'ee 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.
Milan Borjan 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-Qadisiyah have kept their man, and Al-Riyadh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Riyadh 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-Riyadh can pretend not to have heard.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Al-Riyadh will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Khaleej have kept their man, and Al-Riyadh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 89. Al-Batin had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
103 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Riyadh 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. 8.36 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
1 for Victor Lekhal, marked 7.72, 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.
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.
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.
Damac held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Al-Riyadh answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with 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-Riyadh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 110 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.
Trezeguet 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al-Riyadh, and 1 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
Nobody at Al-Riyadh 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.
117 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Riyadh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Trezeguet 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.
Half the programme played, position 7, 26 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 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 Yoann Barbet is on it.
8 clean sheets from 15 appearances at Al-Shoulla. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
The words a physio says slowly. 124 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.
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.
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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
14 appearances at Al-Shoulla and the goals have stopped going in. Al-Riyadh lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
131 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Riyadh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Milan Borjan 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 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 are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The words a physio says slowly. 138 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.
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.
At 33 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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Nasser Al-Bishi scored, was marked 5.46, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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-Riyadh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Trezeguet 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 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Saud Zaydan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Al-Riyadh would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“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-Riyadh are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Trezeguet has come out of that comparison in the side, and Al-Riyadh have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Nasser Al-Juhani was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Al-Riyadh dressing room was either.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Al-Fayha? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
In brief
The dugoutSaud Zaydan knocks on the manager's door
23 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.37 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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-Riyadh 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-Riyadh 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: Trezeguet. 3‑1 against Al-Saudi Al-Watani, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Leandro Antunes was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.51. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.42 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Trezeguet 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 run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
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.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
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.” Nasser Al-Juhani chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
Milan Borjan 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 Trezeguet is on it.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Saud Zaydan is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Trezeguet signs something — a contract at Al-Riyadh or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Al-Jeel next, and one man in the Al-Riyadh dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Al-Riyadh will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
There were 87 minutes on the clock and Al-Shoulla had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Al-Riyadh did not stop to explain themselves.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.31 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
4 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.
Milan Borjan 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.
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.
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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Al-Riyadh scored in the 97th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.50 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Trezeguet 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 watch every Al-Riyadh game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al-Fayha runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
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.” Nasser Al-Juhani kept it short after the 4‑3 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
The dugoutMilan Borjan has become a man the manager trusts
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.
Jathob Al-Dhafieri 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 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.
0‑3 to Najran, 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.
14 combined actions and 6.71. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Al-Riyadh asked and Al-Qadisiyah said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nasser Al-Juhani after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 15 signed and 18 gone
That is the business done at Al-Riyadh 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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
An order from above at Al-Riyadh: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying 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-Riyadh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Abdulaziz Al-Hadhood is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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 award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Al-Riyadh have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Tozé has come out of that comparison in the side, and Al-Riyadh have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
In brief
The dugoutTrezeguet has become a man the manager trusts
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Al-Riyadh people have started saying his name in the past tense.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.08 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Al-Fayha moved on, Hussain Al-Raqwani reports back to Al-Riyadh, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Tozé 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al-Riyadh, and 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al-Riyadh have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Tozé had Al-Riyadh level again within 3 minutes, and Damac never got to play with a lead at all.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Riyadh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Two goals and a mark of 8.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Milan Borjan 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.
5 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Osama Al-Bawardi and Al-Riyadh agree another 3 years.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Qadisiyah have kept their man, and Al-Riyadh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Al-Riyadh and Al-Taawoun have settled on $150.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Riyadh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
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 Trezeguet is on it.
“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-Riyadh can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have shaken hands with Al-Khaleej; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al-Khaleej keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Al-Riyadh offered $89.0K; Damac 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Ta'ee have kept their man, and Al-Riyadh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Al-Khaleej waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Al-Riyadh is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Trezeguet 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.
Al-Riyadh have gone to Damac 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.
Hajer paid $100.0K and Al-Riyadh took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Al-Riyadh will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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 Abdulaziz Al-Hadhood has written the date down.
“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-Riyadh can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Al-Saudi Al-Watani for Battal Al-Harthi 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.
Al-Riyadh have gone to Al-Khaleej 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.
Al-Riyadh asked and Al-Fayha 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 name of Ahmed Khatir has come up in conversations Al-Riyadh were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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-Riyadh will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
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 Khalil Al-Absi is on it.
Mamadou Sylla 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 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 name of Battal Al-Harthi has come up in conversations Al-Riyadh were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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 Osama Al-Bawardi is on it.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Al-Riyadh will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al-Riyadh have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Al-Khaleej is saying, and nobody at Al-Riyadh is enjoying the guessing.
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-Riyadh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
29 games, 6 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Al-Riyadh now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Saud Zaydan is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
4 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 phone has started ringing about Mamadou Sylla again, and this time the name on the line is Zamalek. Al-Riyadh are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
The terraces28 Jun 2027
Supporters make their feelings known about Mamadou Sylla
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Al-Riyadh would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
Nobody has promised him anything and he has not asked. The coaching staff have noticed, which at this stage of a season is the only thing that matters.
“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-Riyadh, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Al-Riyadh will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Jan Petek 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 at Al-Riyadh 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Leandro Antunes signs something — a contract at Al-Riyadh or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The offer from Rudes for Jan Petek 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.
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-Riyadh 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.
The name of Battal Al-Harthi has come up in conversations Al-Riyadh were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Trezeguet trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Al-Riyadh 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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Al-Riyadh will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Trezeguet 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 name of Jan Petek has come up in conversations Al-Riyadh were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Marzouq Tambakti is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Al-Riyadh will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Nobody at Al-Riyadh 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.
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Jan Petek 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.
Trezeguet 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.
4 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mamadou Sylla signs something — a contract at Al-Riyadh or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sulaiman Hazazi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Mamadou Sylla 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 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Teddy Okou signs something — a contract at Al-Riyadh or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
29 appearances away from home and 6 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
The terraces24 May 2027
Supporters make their feelings known about Trezeguet
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Al-Riyadh would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
64 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hussain Al-Raqwani trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Riyadh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Milan Borjan 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 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Riyadh can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Nobody at Al-Riyadh 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.
“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-Riyadh, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Riyadh 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-Riyadh 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Riyadh know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Trezeguet 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al-Riyadh, and 4 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Leandro Antunes has moved up it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mamadou Sylla signs something — a contract at Al-Riyadh or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdulaziz Jurmush trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Ahmed Khatir is on it.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Al-Riyadh would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
Al-Ittihad watched Leandro Antunes again at the weekend, and this time they did not bother hiding it. Clubs only stop hiding when they want the price to start moving.
“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-Riyadh, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Trezeguet signs something — a contract at Al-Riyadh or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Khalil Al-Absi is on it.
Position 5, 64 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Riyadh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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 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.
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 Trezeguet is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sulaiman Hazazi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Saad Haqawi has written the date down.
His past walked in ahead of him. Players who have been where he has been get a hearing in a dressing room before they have earned one, and he has it for as long as his form does.
Position 5 on 64 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.
“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-Riyadh, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
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-Riyadh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Al-Riyadh game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Hajer runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Al-Riyadh told Rakan Kaabi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Milan Borjan 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.
Nobody at Al-Riyadh 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.
Al-Ta'ee next, and one man in the Al-Riyadh dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Position 4, 64 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Milan Borjan 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.
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.
Level with 86 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Al-Riyadh had all but put away. Al-Diriyah will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
6 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Riyadh can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Trezeguet 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 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-Riyadh now know that too.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Al-Nahda scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Saad Haqawi will call it something else in private.
1‑5 to Al-Hazem, 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 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Riyadh can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Trezeguet 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. 6 goals between Al-Riyadh and Al-Hazem, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“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-Riyadh 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-Riyadh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A last season at home is what Mamadou Sylla is after
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Mamadou Sylla 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 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al-Riyadh, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Al-Riyadh will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
1 for Rakan Kaabi, marked 7.54, 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.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Al-Mojzel scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Marked 7.74. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad15 Feb 2027
5 new faces, and Al-Riyadh 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.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.16 at 34, 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-Riyadh 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-Riyadh and Al-Jeel in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Trezeguet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Riyadh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Nawaf Al-Shammari has, at Al-Riyadh, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Milan Borjan 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Trezeguet 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.
Position 2, 55 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.
The offer from Al-Qadisiyah for Tozé was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Al-Riyadh, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al-Fayha keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Trezeguet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Al-Riyadh 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdulaziz Al-Hadhood, and the manager let it.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Trezeguet was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mohammed Al-Khaibari has his answer from Al-Riyadh; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tozé provided it, and the 8.30 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The offer from Al-Orobah for Adulrahman Al-Shammari 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.
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-Riyadh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 21 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Trezeguet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Al-Orobah paid $74.0K and Al-Riyadh took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Fayha have kept their man, and Al-Riyadh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Al-Riyadh had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.16 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Jan Petek has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
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-Riyadh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Al-Riyadh asked and Al-Diriyah 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Yoann Barbet has his answer from Al-Riyadh; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Mamadou Sylla 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Trezeguet 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.
0‑1 to Damac, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout28 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 Nasser Al-Juhani to a room that had heard them before.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.16 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Al-Riyadh and Al-Njoom in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Mamadou Sylla was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.54. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Trezeguet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.43 — 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.
Half the programme played, position 1, 40 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 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 Trezeguet is on it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Trezeguet 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: Trezeguet. 2‑1 against Al-Diriyah, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.01 — 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.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
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.
“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.
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.
Al-Diriyah next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Rodrigo Abascal'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.
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Nasser Al-Juhani was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Al-Riyadh dressing room was either.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Al-Riyadh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khaled Al-Asbahi 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.
Marked 4.93. 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.
Trezeguet 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.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
A performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Trezeguet'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.
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-Riyadh 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 Trezeguet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Al-Riyadh will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
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 Trezeguet is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Riyadh know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Al-Hazem in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“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-Riyadh, and both men came out saying it was fine.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Al-Riyadh would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Saud Zaydan’s exile
30 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
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-Riyadh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.36 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
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.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
Al-Mojzel will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Al-Riyadh were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tozé provided it, and the 8.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Riyadh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
5 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Trezeguet 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.
“I did not go to Al-Njoom to sit and watch. I want to come back to Al-Riyadh and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
The dugout26 Oct 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.” Nasser Al-Juhani kept it short after the 4‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Trezeguet 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 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Abdulaziz Al-Hadhood 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Nasser Al-Juhani on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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-Riyadh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Al-Riyadh told Teddy Okou something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Nobody at Al-Riyadh 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdulaziz Al-Hadhood trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Riyadh know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Al-Riyadh would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
Mamadou Sylla 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.
7 matches without defeat, and then Al-Ettifaq. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Al-Riyadh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Trezeguet is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Al-Riyadh will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nasser Al-Juhani after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Yoann Barbet is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
7 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.
Trezeguet 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.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al-Riyadh, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
SquadJan Petek falls out with a teammate over standards
Two goals and a mark of 8.29 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Trezeguet 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.
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.
“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-Riyadh, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The terracesThe stands have heard the Trezeguet talk too
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Trezeguet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ali Al-Otaibi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Marked 8.17 — 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.
“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-Riyadh can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Al-Riyadh close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 8 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Trezeguet 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-Nahda paid $44.0K and Al-Riyadh took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Al-Riyadh have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Still no offer on the table, and Abdulaziz Al-Hadhood’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Trezeguet is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
In brief
The dugoutYoann Barbet knocks on the manager's door
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.24 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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-Riyadh, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Trezeguet was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.31. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout31 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.” Nasser Al-Juhani kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Al-Riyadh would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
“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-Riyadh can pretend not to have heard.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Al-Riyadh can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Trezeguet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Al-Wehda paid $39.0K and Al-Riyadh took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all 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-Riyadh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9 combined actions and 7.60. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.32 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The offer from Al-Ta'ee for Adulrahman Al-Shammari 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.
Al-Riyadh had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al-Ettifaq, 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-Riyadh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.22 — 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Abdulaziz Jurmush has just signed for Al-Riyadh, and for once the answer mattered.
Trezeguet 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.
Al-Riyadh asked and Al-Ta'ee said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Yasser Al-Dosari 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. Saad Al-Nemer 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. Yasser Al-Nemer 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.