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 Wasl 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 Pedro Malheiro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Soufiane Bouftini and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Nobody at Al Wasl 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.
In brief
SquadDinko Horkaš has seen what the next man earns
Dinko Horkaš and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Renato Tapia falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Renato Tapia signs something — a contract at Al Wasl or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Al Wasl 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.
Position 5 on 48 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
“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 Wasl, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 48 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Serginho provided it, and the 9.27 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Dinko Horkaš 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Al Wasl training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Renato Tapia 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 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.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Dinko Horkaš was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Renato Tapia 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.
Marked 8.30 — 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.
8.06. 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 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 10.00 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
20 goals and a season average of 7.40. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Dinko Horkaš for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Al Wasl will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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 Wasl this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Mehdi Taremi on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Al Wasl and Al Fujairah.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.13 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at America de Cali is saying, and nobody at Al Wasl is enjoying the guessing.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nicolás Giménez commits to Al Wasl for another 3 years.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Renato Tapia falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mehdi Taremi. 1‑0 against Al Shaab, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Amer Rashid could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutBrahian Palacios is still being punished for one mistake
“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 Wasl can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Al Wasl close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 6 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.
Pedro Malheiro 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.
A season average of 7.29 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Renato Tapia falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Cameron Puertas. 3‑1 against Al Nasr, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
18 goals in 21 games at Sharjah — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al Wasl updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Renato Tapia 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.
Tahnoon Hamdan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Successful dribbles: 51. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The offer from Al Jazira for Saša Ivković 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.
20 appearances at Sharjah and the goals keep coming. Al Wasl are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Al Wasl training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Renato Tapia 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 Wasl asked and Al-Ittihad 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
Al Wasl asked and Zamalek said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Faisal Rashid 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Walid Al Hashmi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
3 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Al Wahda the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Al Wasl will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
A brace, and Mehdi Taremi takes the afternoon — 8.99
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mehdi Taremi provided it, and the 8.99 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The offer from Al Ahli for Salem Al-Azizi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Salem Al-Azizi has agreed terms with Al Wahda for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Dinko Horkaš 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.
14 goals and a season average of 7.30 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Al Wasl training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Renato Tapia 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.
14 goals in 18 games at Sharjah — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al Wasl updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.88 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Pedro Malheiro 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.
6 goals in one match, Mehdi Taremi on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Al Wasl and Emirates Club.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mehdi Taremi. 4‑2 against Emirates Club, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Renato Tapia falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.13 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Renato Tapia 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: Mehdi Taremi. 2‑0 against Al Shabab, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Amer Rashid on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.93 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al Wasl this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Renato Tapia falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ismail Abdulrahman 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.
11 goals in 15 games at Sharjah — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al Wasl updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Dinko Horkaš 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Al Wasl training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Renato Tapia 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Amer Rashid on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Renato Tapia was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Al Wasl training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adryelson 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.
Half the programme played, position 6, 21 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Baniyas scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
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.
Pedro Malheiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Al Wasl training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Renato Tapia is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
9 goals in 12 games at Sharjah — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al Wasl updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Squad23 Nov 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Al Wasl man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Renato Júnior was the best thing in any of them.
A performance of 9.52 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Renato Tapia falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Pedro Malheiro 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Renato Tapia falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It finished 2‑1, and it was Serginho’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Al Wasl.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Serginho was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.44. 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Amer Rashid on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Pedro Malheiro trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Pedro Malheiro 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Renato Tapia falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Daniel Pedrozo wants continental football; whether Al Wasl can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Juan Campos is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Al Wasl training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Renato Tapia is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The 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.
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.
8 goals in 8 games at Sharjah — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al Wasl updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
0‑2 to Al Ain, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Adryelson 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.
7 goals in 7 games at Sharjah — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al Wasl updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Successful dribbles: 46. 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 Fujairah go through and Al Wasl go home, 1‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 94th minute. Dibba will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Pedro Malheiro was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Renato Tapia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Dinko Horkaš was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Al Wasl training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Renato Tapia is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
In brief
Boardroom103% of the income goes out in wages at Al Wasl
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Saša Ivković
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
At 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 Cameron Puertas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
22 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Amer Rashid, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Pedro Malheiro trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Dibba moved on, Malek Janeer reports back to Al Wasl, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
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 Wasl this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 27 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Renato Júnior was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.58. 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 Renato Tapia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Baniyas moved on, Salem Al-Azizi reports back to Al Wasl, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Al Wasl training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Malheiro 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Omar Mabkhout 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Al Ahli had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.17 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 17 signed and 17 gone
That is the business done at Al Wasl 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.
Pedro Malheiro 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Add another name to the list: Baniyas have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Salem Al-Azizi. The answer from Al Wasl has not changed — yet.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Hamad Al Junaibi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
SquadWords at Al Wasl training over how hard people work
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Esteghlal keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Al Fujairah pay $350.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Al Wasl training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Renato Tapia 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.
“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 Wasl, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Emirates Club for Malek Janeer 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 Wasl had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Lech, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Dinko Horkaš and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Al Wasl training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Malheiro 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dibba is saying, and nobody at Al Wasl is enjoying the guessing.
Pedro Malheiro 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Al Wasl training over how hard people work
Everything agreed with Leyton Orient, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The shirt still fits. Mohamed Ali is back at Al Wasl, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dibba have kept their man, and Al Wasl go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Amer Abdulrahman 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ahmed Hussain is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Majed Al Menhali is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Al Wasl training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Renato Tapia 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.
11 seasons and 193 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
Dinko Horkaš was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Malheiro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.