Prodigious playmaker Al Juwayr fast becoming crucial to club and country

Back at Al Shabab for another season, Musab Al Juwayr has picked up in 2024-25 where he left off last season.

The exciting 21-year-old, on loan from parent club Al Hilal, was a standout in a challenging campaign for Al Shabab in the 2023-24 Roshn Saudi League, earning its Young Player of the Month award for April after a series of impressive performances, including a goal and assist, in an undefeated month for the Riyadh side.

Now, little more than a month into the new season, Al Juwayr has added another RSL Young Player gong to his catalogue after being awarded the prize for September. It recognised an impressive start to the new campaign that has included one goal and two assists through the opening six rounds of the season.

Al Juwayr’s sole goal actually came at champions Al Hilal, where the midfielder played the opening two matches of the season before going back out on loan to Al Shabab as part of the deal that sent Moteb Al Harbi the other way.

Given his start to the season with Al Hilal, with a goal and assist in their 3-2 victory against Damac in Matchweek 2, some might consider it a surprise the title-holders chose to let Al Juwayr. known already for his technical ability and fine shooting skills, leave for their Riyadh rivals.

Over a number of years now, the Al Hilal academy product has demonstrated why he is rated so highly within the Kingdom. He made his competitive debut aged 18 in a win against Damac in November 2021, scoring four minutes after coming off the bench for Peruvian international Andre Carillo. Talk about making a good first impression.

And, while Al Juwayr made only eight appearances that season, he concluded the campaign with two goals and a burgeoning reputation. That status was only enhanced the following season, with another 12 games and two goals, but it’s what Al Juwayr did on the world stage that perhaps left the greatest early impact.

At the 2022 FIFA Club World Cup, played in February 2023, in Morocco, Al Hilal took hosts Wydad Casablanca to penalties in their opening fixture after Mohammed Kanno struck deep into stoppage-time to make it 1-1 and send the game to extra-time.

After coming on in the second half of extra-time, Al Juwayr was one of the freshest players on the pitch at Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, although at only 19, was also the most inexperienced. And yet, despite all of the knowhow in the team for Al Hilal, including the likes of Carillo, Moussa Marega, Saleh Al Shehri, Luciano Vietto, Jang Hyun-soo and Gustavo Cuellar, it was the fresh-faced Al Juwayr that stepped up to take the decisive penalty.

It was a moment that underlined the considerable regard with which he is rated at Al Hilal - and also just how much faith he has in himself. Many players, even experienced ones, would shy away from such pressure. Instead, Al Juwayr embraced it.

After Wydad missed their opening penalty, it meant the game was on Al Juwayr’s right boot as he made his way towards goal. Facing a hostile crowd, the overwhelming majority of whom were clad in red supporting the local side, Al Juwayr strode forward and, before placing the ball on the spot, gave it a small kiss for good luck.

With boos and jeers ringing in his ears, and even lasers pointed at his face in an attempt to distract him, he belied his tender age to calmly slot home the penalty that sent Al Hilal on their way at a tournament in which they would make the final. Later becoming the first Saudi Arabian side to reach the FIFA Club World Cup showpiece, ultimately, they fell just short against European champions Real Madrid.

And, while that was the only action Al Juwayr saw in the tournament in Morocco, it was enough to pinpoint his huge potential. He had proven himself a man for the big moments.

For close observers of Saudi football, it came as no surprise. A month earlier, when making his senior national-team debut for the Green Falcons at the 2023 Gulf Cup in Iraq, Al Juwayr also stepped forward to take a spot-kick, this time in the group win against Yemen. He was comfortably the youngest Saudi player on the pitch.

While that was a largely experimental Green Falcons side given it came so soon after the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, so impressive has Al Juwayr's form been that he has worked his way into Roberto Mancini’s squad in recent months.

In what is fast becoming Al Juwayr’s trademark, he rose to the occasion, scoring upon his return to the team in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Pakistan in June. He promptly followed that by doing likewise against Indonesia last month and is expected to play his part in Saudi Arabia’s qualifiers against Japan and Bahrain, which take place over the next five days.

Aged 21, Al Juwayr is only barely starting to come of age. What is so exciting, though, is the strong sensation that the prodigious playmaker's best is yet to come.