After 8 round of matches, Hilal and Ahli have set up the pace in the league. Nasser was slowly following up but got robbed by Hilal in the derby. Other big teams Ittihad and Shahbab are again no show in the league , Shabab has completely lost the creditbility to be the top team in the league. Ittihad is following it too for now..
Nasr lost heavily against Qadsiya in the earlier round and today, it's 1-0 for Faisaly against Nasr. at Half Time thus far... Al Faisaly's goal was scored by Islam Siraj... Islam Siraj is a talented striker (much better than Sahlawi who misses sitters infront of goal, Sahlawi again missed a glorious opportunity to score in tonights match where he reminded me of UAE x KSA match that ended in favour of UAE 2-1 in which, he missed many chances to shoot and score - same lack of shooting ability he repeated in tonight's match)... Anyhow, Islam Siraj resembles Sami Al Jaber's playing style i.e., always scoring important goals when it matters most. Islam Siraj deserves to be playing for the Saudi National Team.
Also, really surprised to see empty King Fahd stadium in Al Nasr match... Is there any reason for no-fan ?... This is really unusual for a big club like Al Nasr to have little and / or almost empty stadium... what's the story here ?
Very simple. not everytime you can expect your fans to travel far away from stadium to watch the games since you have a stadium in the city center..
So Hilal and Ahli points gap is narrowed down after Hilal lost points against, Feiha, Ittifaq and Ittihad. Still games to go, Hilal is loosing there key players which might derail them in long run..
Why all the matches are postponed tonight ?... Also, for which tournament was the match played b/w AlFayha and AlNasr few moments ago ?
Really happy for Salem Dawsari, the guy can play and impress in Europa league if at all he can and is eligible to play.. Fahd deserved a good club IMO along with Yahya Sehri.. Overall, I think these are forced deals .
Honestly, I think the Fahad al-Muwallad loan is the most promising. He should get plenty of playing time as Levante could do with more options. Salem on the other hand, I don't see how he'll break in to the team.
these "deals"...pretty much gave me the creeps: https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-soccer-spain-saudiarabia/villarreal-among-liga-clubs-to-sign-saudi-arabia-players-idUKKBN1FA14T
It's a great deal for the Spanish clubs. They get the services of decent players for free and some extra PR and exposure in the region to boot. There's no risk for them. In the case of Fahad al-Muwallad, it's a forced loan for Ittihad for sure. The club is bankrupt and effectively under GSA administration. All they can do at the moment is fight to retain as much of their threadbare squad as possible, non more so than Fahad, who was out of contract and was hot property by local standards. The saga of him getting a new deal has been dragging for months, and then the GSA announce him getting a 5 year deal literally hours before his loan announcement. You can imagine the emotional roller coaster Ittihad fans went through. The new deal feels like a little assurance to assuage fans that the loan isn't a route for him to move on a free transfer at the end of the season. Not sure what the deal is for the other clubs. Hilal would sure have rather kept Salem with their injury problems, but they have a big squad and they should hold on to win the title. We'll see how the GSA compensates them
It will be interesting to see how much they play at Leganes/Levante/Villarreal. For now, Spanish clubs are more interested on how much they will get paid by their Saudi sponsorship deals. It is no secret that some Spanish clubs are struggling financially. Levante club officials expect to close a Saudi sponsorship deal which will last until June 30th. Levante's new Saudi sponsor will be unveiled on February 3rd, during a game against Real Madrid. Apparently, the Saudi sponsorship deals range between 2-3 million euros per club: http://cadenaser.com/emisora/2018/01/22/radio_valencia/1516661383_894291.html Villarreal has announced that Al Dawsari will got to its 1st division team, while Issa will go to its 3rd division team: https://www.villarrealcf.es/noticia...6-salem-al-dawsari-jugara-en-el-villarreal-cf Obviously, Al Dawsari won't play Europa League, as the inscription list will be locked at 25 players by February 1st. Villarreal shows 31 players in its 1st division roster, including Al Dawsari; although the 1st division roster limit is 25 players: https://www.villarrealcf.es/primer-equipo/villarreal-cf/plantilla The Spanish footballers' union has voiced its disagreement with the overall deal, indicating that it undercuts Spanish youth player development: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42781575
I think it's baseless for footballer's union to voice disagreement. Its nine players for different clubs..Accommodating one player won't hamper the youth development.
Its make or break.. If the players don't get much playing time they will loose confidence to play and effect other players too if they are asked to switch to clubs abroad. Of what I heard from my Spanish friends, it would be mostly a training program for the players and they will get chance to play a match or two in the league and not full 90 minutes..
I honestly don't like the overall saga. I have not seen if not mistaken sports authority getting involved in fixing deals for its clubs with foreign clubs.. Again if not mistaken, Saudi FA has increased foreign players quota to 7 now and allowing Saudi born foriegn players to sign as new players will probably reduce the burden on players. But obviously , the rich clubs will gain from this and brush asside the small clubs.. For Ittihad, Kahraba out of form, Akaichi missing open goals , Fahd out on loan and a shitty defense I just hope we are out of this bankcruptcy soon and able to survive in league..
I don't think it will just be a training camp, TBH. They didn't have to sign them on loan for that. When Fahad went and trained with ManU, they didn't sign him on loan. They're in the squads of their respective teams, they'll fight for a place on the lineup like all the other players.
I agree with al ittihady's Spanish friends. Very likely, it is a training program + publicity stunt: a) the club gets paid to house/train a new player in its ranks, not to field him, and b) GSA gets to say that its national team will be better prepared for Rusia 2018. Sad but true, it is how some Spanish clubs pay their bills: they rent out roster slots, for money/sponsorship/etc. Chinese sponsors have done it in the past. For example, Rayo Vallecano was sponsored by Chinese company Qbao, which imposed a Chinese player in their roster: Chengdong Zhang was loaned from Chinese 1st division (July 2015). He appeared 4 times on the bench, playing 8 minutes during his last appearance (December 30th 2015). Just enough minutes to claim that Zhang was the first Chinese player to play on Spanish 1st division. It helped inflate his value to ~20 million euros, once his Chinese club sold him within China (January 2017). Now, Qbao is under investigation by Chinese authorities (December 2017). The whole Zhang-Rayo Vallecano affair was a joke. Rayo Vallecano are now in Spanish 2nd division, and will house a Saudi player via a GSA sponsorship deal. As expected, each Spanish club involved with GSA sponsorship is trying to appease their local fans, telling them that there is no obligation to give minutes to Saudi players. It is an unfortunate state of affairs, because it exposes some Saudi national team players to unfair criticism. Even worse, they will receive insufficient play time before a World Cup. It seems to me that the GSA is mismanaging Saudi preparation to Rusia 2018, betting on Saudi people being satisfied with a Saudi player wearing a Spanish club logo. Meanwhile, money goes from the GSA bank account to the pockets of whoever signed the sponsorship deal.
It is labor politics. The players' union wants to say it will protect local players' jobs, before the import trend affects more Spanish clubs. The union's claim is real, nonetheless. Roster slots are scarce, and youth players depend on few roster slots to break into a club's top squad.