Al Ittihad's young guns ready to rock RSL

A quiet shift has been happening at Roshn Saudi League side Al Ittihad, hidden beneath the headline-grabbing signings of Laurent Blanc, Houssem Aouar and Moussa Diaby.

In fact, you can argue that Aouar’s move from AS Roma and Diaby’s move from Aston Villa is further proof of the shift in direction from the Jeddah powerhouse - one that has been slowly taking place for the past 12 months.

As they stormed to the 2022-23 RSL title two seasons ago, Al Ittihad did so with a starting XI that had an average age of approximately 30 years. The team included experienced performances such as Abderazzak Hamdallah, Romarinho, Marcelo Grohe, Ahmed Hegazi, Tarek Hamed, Igor Coronado, Bruno Henrique, Omar Hawsawi and Helder Costa.

All were on the wrong side of 30 and, now just over 12 months on from that triumph, all are no longer with the club. It’s quite a rapid turnover in personnel, but one which underscores the new, younger direction the west-coast club is heading in.

Led by new Chief Executive Officer, Domingos Oliveira, and Sporting Director, Ramon Planes, who both arrived at the Jeddah giants during the 2023-24 campaign, Al Ittihad recognised the need to replenish their squad with players of a younger age profile.

“Ramon is a very experienced football director,” Oliveira explained to Al Ittihad’s media channel back in January. “His experience will be extremely helpful for the club in terms of development [where] he will focus for the future on youth development, and also the scouting department.

“For us, the future depends a lot on how many young players we can bring to the first team. So that’s part of our strategy, which is trying to attract the best young players to the team and to try to develop them inside our squad.”

The first of those was Faisal Al Ghamdi, 22, who joined at the start of September from Al Ettifaq and quickly established himself as a starting presence in the Al Ittihad midfield.

Such was Al Ghamdi’s impressive form, he took the November award for RSL Young Player of the Month and earned selection in Saudi Arabia’s squad for the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023, scoring in the group stage against Kyrgyzstan.

While that tournament took place, the regeneration of the Al Ittihad squad continued throughout the January transfer window. A reciprocal loan deal was put in place with Al Ettifaq, which sent some players Steven Gerrard’s way, but allowed Al Ittihad to secure the services - with options to buy - of talented duo Saad Al Mousa and Ahmed Al Ghamdi. They are aged 21 and 22, respectively.

“The Ettifaq swap was a very interesting deal, and it is a part of our strategy,” Oliveira said. “We took a player - a young player - Saad, coming to our team and we have a buy option that we can exercise in the summer, and we are very happy.

“So that’s part of the future, which is to bring young talent and to give them opportunity to play with our first team.”

After impressive performances with the first team in the back half of last season, the buy option Soares referenced was exercised for both Al Mousa and Al Ghamdi. Having established themselves as important members of the team, both players now look like being integral parts of the Al Ittihad machine for the next few years, if not longer.

Most recently, and while the focus was on the signing of Diaby – the France winger is himself only 25 and thus fits the focus on signing younger talent - Al Ittihad struck gold with the signing of promising left-back Muath Faqeehi from RSL champions Al Hilal.

The 22-year-old spent last season on loan at Al Taawoun and quickly demonstrated his talent; he was named RSL Young Player of the Month for September, going on to play a pivotal role in helping Al Taawoun to a fourth-placed finish.

“[He] fits perfectly with the club’s vision of recruiting young, talented players who have both the skills and ambition to make significant contributions to the team,” Oliveira explained.

Just as important as recruiting talented players to the club, meanwhile, is promoting those from within. Al Ittihad are investing significantly to develop their youth facilities, improving the facilities and pitches to provide the best possible platform for a new generation to emerge.

Last season saw the emergence of some green shoots, most notably 16-year-old Talal Haji, who became the league’s youngest-ever goalscorer when he netted against Al Okhdood in Matchweek 23 in March. Some have even likened Haji to legendary Saudi striker Majed Abdullah. Such is his potential, the club worked quickly to sign Haji to a new long-term deal that will see him in black-and-yellow until at least 2028.

Also emerging from the youth team ranks were 20-year-old left winger Marwan Al Sahafi, and 18-year-old attacking midfielder Farhah Al Shamrani, who each took their opportunities last term when they presented - particularly in the second half of the season.

In further good news for the West coast outfit, Al Ittihad’s Under-17 side were crowned champions of the U17 Premier League, hinting at an even more promising future to come.

After a hugely disappointing title defence last time around, and with the 2024-25 campaign to kick off on August 22, the future in Jeddah is suddenly looking rather bright.