The Saudi defensive trio laying platform for Al Ittihad's RSL revival

It was an off-season of change at Al Ittihad, and it needed to be after last season’s poor title defence saw them finish a lowly fifth, 42 points behind champions Al Hilal.

Laurent Blanc, a World Cup winner for France as both player and coach, was chosen to spearhead the revival, while there were no shortage of new faces in the dressing room.

An almost brand-new attack was recruited, one designed around marquee man, and captain, Karim Benzema. There was Moussa Diaby from Aston Villa, Houssem Aouar from AS Roma, Steven Bergwijn from Ajax and Saudi national team star Saleh Al Shehri from Al Hilal.

To be fair, a change in direction was evident already towards the end of last season, as Al Ittihad pivoted to a squad with a younger age profile. Out went a cast of experienced campaigners that had delivered success, such as Romarinho, Ahmed Hegazi and Igor Abderrazak Hamdallah, and in came a new crop of exciting youngsters determined to return Al Ittihad back to their glory days.

Eight games into the new Roshn Saudi League season and the revamp has had the desired effect. Blanc’s side have won seven of those eight to sit second in the table, and have been banging in the goals for fun, with 21 so far this season. It is second only to league leaders Al Hilal (23) for most goals scored.

After his own disappointing debut season last term, with nine goals, Benzema has eight already now. There’s a vibrancy and energy to Al Ittihad that was missing last year. They look a different side. But as the old saying goes, goals will win you games, but defences win you championships. And in that regard, it’s also been an impressive start to the campaign.

Last season, Al Ittihad had the worst defensive record of the top six, conceding on average 1.60 goals per game. With eight conceded in eight games this time around, they’re already vastly improved in that area. A considerable amount of credit for that, then, has to go to a trio of unheralded local products: Hassan Kadesh, Abdulelah Al Amri and Saad Al Mousa.

While Al Ittihad’s international stars lead the way in attack – Aouar has five RSL goals, Diaby leads the league in assists, with 10 - in defence it’s their Saudi Arabian stars taking centre stage. Blanc’s backline is a collection of local talents at different stages of the experience spectrum. They are combining to great effect.

Kadesh is the veteran of the trio, an experienced commander with almost 250 RSL appearances under his belt. A Dammam native, his 13-year career at the top started with local side Al Ettifaq, with subsequent stops at Al Hilal and Al Taawoun, before he joined Al Ittihad last season.

Kadesh, 32, made himself a hero recently with the Saudi national team, scoring twice in a crucial come-from-behind 2-1 win over China to secure the Green Falcons’ first win of this Third Round of World Cup qualifying. With just nine league goals across his 300-plus games in all competitions, they are a rarity, so scoring twice in one game was something of a fairytale.

Kadesh was provided an extra warm welcome back to Al Ittihad training, with Blanc singling out his achievement for praise. No doubt, it’s a performance, and the plaudits it prompted, that will have given Kadesh even more self-belief. His displays on the left of Al Ittihad’s defence this season are those of a player playing with that confidence.

Centrally, Blanc has experimented with a number of defensive partnerships. Luiz Felipe began the season there alongside Al Mousa, while another new signing, Portuguese Danilo Pereira, has also been tried. However, in recent weeks it’s been Al Amri and Al Mousa that have formed the preferred duo.

Al Amri arrived at the start of the season on loan from Al Nassr. At 27, and thus thought to be in the peak of his career, he sought more regular game time than what Al Nassr could offer. The decision has paid off: Al Amri he has been an important addition to Blanc’s defensive options.

Al Mousa, meanwhile, is the youngest of the trio at only 21. He arrived in Jeddah last season on loan from Al Ettifaq, where he had played 20 games in two-and-a-half seasons. But, at Al Ittihad, he immediately impressed with a maturity beyond his years.

With an option to buy inserted into his deal, the 2022-23 Saudi champions wasted little time in taking up that option and making Al Mousa an important cog in their defensive set-up.

Already this season, he has the most clearances for Al Ittihad with 19, ahead of Al Amri (15) and Kadesh (13), while you can add an additional 12 tackles into the mix as well. With performances like his, you would imagine it surely won’t be long before returning national team coach, Herve Renard, gives Al Mousa his first senior call up.

For the moment, though, the focus remains solely on Al Ittihad and success in this weekend’s Sea Derby – the first of three derbies to kick-start the RSL’s inaugural Derby Week - against local rivals Al Ahli.

If the designated hosts at their shared King Abdullah Sports City are to win, the attack will again get the lion’s share of the headlines. Although don’t sleep on the importance of the defence, with serious Saudi talent at its heart, to Al Ittihad’s 2024-25 revival.

For more Derby Week content visit our dedicated hub, with star interviews, features, videos and more HERE