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Al-Ettifaq Transfer News, Analysis and Overview- 2024

Al-Ettifaq Football Club is one of the oldest clubs in Saudi football, hailing from Dammam and currently competing in the top tier of Saudi football, the Saudi Pro League or the Roshn Saudi League (RSL). Founded in 1945, the club secured its position in the Saudi Pro League for the league’s second edition in 1977-1978. Since then and prior to that, the club has had a great history of competing for and winning various domestic trophies. 

These days, Al-Ettifaq is one of the more recognizable clubs and a top dog in the Saudi Pro League. In recent years, owing to their high-profile European talent pool and acquisition of manager Steven Gerrard, it has boosted the viewership and traction that the club has been getting. 

By all means, Al-Ettifaq is a well-backed and sizeable football club in Saudi football, with their men’s squad boasting a total market value of a respectable €49.40 million. That said, Al-Ettifaq, along with a few other top Saudi clubs have reportedly garnered an influx of €100 million in revenue, owing to their exciting signings in the past few years. Now with some top talents among their ranks, the red and green outfit will look to make a statement in the league.

Al-Ettifaq Club Performance History

As mentioned previously, Al-Ettifaq was founded in 1945 in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. The club was the amalgamation of three different clubs from the same city that decided to unite as a means to counter the effects of not having enough revenue to go around. That said, with the backing of the sports ministry, the club began its affairs and within a few years managed to become a decent outfit, challenging for many a few domestic titles. 

Initially, the club started off in the second tier of the Saudi League before making their way into the First Division the following season, having finished runner-up to Al-Nahda. Here Al-Ettifaq was mostly restricted to 5th-6th place finishes something that is a common theme for them even today. However, in 1982–83, the club managed to lift their first Saudi League title thanks to Al-Nassr dashing Al-Hilal’s title hopes on the final day. This feat would then be repeated by the club in the 1986–87 season as well. 

This would then be followed by two domestic titles in the following year and in the years that followed, Al-Ettifaq would challenge and win more titles, finishing runners-up in a number of league seasons and in other cup competitions. By and large, the club has always been one to compete for the highest honors, something they have lost touch of, in recent years. That said, the new era under Steven Gerrard has only just begun and will hopefully return the club to their former glory. 

Al-Ettifaq Transfer 2024 Challenges & criticisms

Like all the big Saudi clubs, Al-Ettifaq also had a massive summer transfer window in the 2023-2024 season which saw the arrival of some top names not just in the team but in the league overall. These signings fixed a lot of problems and elevated the squad to a level where they could compete and build on the progress of previous years. 

That said, the squad still lacked depth in certain areas and the 2024/25 transfer window was a way to address that. By and large, the need of the hour was to address the lack of quality in select positions and mostly to offload a lot of players that had become surplus to need. As such, there were only 3 real signings while 7 players were either sold or let go for free.

Al-Ettifaq Transfer Strategy and Philosophy

By all means, Al-Ettifaq is a club of great stature in the Saudi footballing ecosystem, however, the club does not possess the means to splurge massive amounts on transfer fees and instead prefers to spend within their means and make the best out of their clearly limited resources. Unlike many other Saudi clubs, Al-Ettifaq focuses as much on bringing in players for a good price as they do on offloading players to balance their books. 

Similarly, Al-Ettifaq did not fall into the practice of recruiting from the Chinese Super League and instead focused their attention on wantaway stars from other European leagues. Most notably, Ligue 1 and the Turkish League have been good scouting grounds for the Saudi club with a few well-known Premier League talents making their way to the club in recent times as well.

Most Expensive Al-Ettifaq Transfers

Before we move on to the summer signings made by Al-Ettifaq, let us first take a look at some of their most expensive signings. That said, all of their top 5 most expensive signings in Al-Ettifaq’s history, barring one, have come about in the last two transfer windows. 

Coming in at the top spot is Jordan Henderson from Liverpool for €14.00 million in 2023-24. Following that we have Demarai Gray from Everton who arrived in 2023-2024 for a fee of €9.50m. Next on the list is former AS Roma player João Costa who arrived in 2024-2025 for a fee of €9.00m. 

Following these up, we have the likes of Georginio Wijnaldum who arrived in the 2023-2024 season for €8.00m from PSG. The next name on the list is Naim Sliti who arrived from Dijon in 2019-2020 for a fee of €5.00m.

Al-Ettifaq Transfer New Signings 2024/25

As mentioned previously, the 2024-2025 summer window was a very strategic one for the club and saw the arrival of 3 players, consisting of some known quantities and some up-and-coming talents. During the window, Al-Ettifaq moderated their spending to €10.68 on transfers who have started to have a positive impact on the team this season. That said, there are signs of growing improvement in the squad. 

Up first is the club’s marquee signing this summer, João Costa secured from AS Roma for €9.00m. In addition to this, Abdulbasit Hindi was brought in by the club, coming in from Al-Ahli for €1.68m. Similarly, Marek Rodák was secured on a free transfer from Fulham as well. 

Al-Ettifaq Transfers All Outgoings 2024/25

Naturally, with the club focused on their outgoings this summer, there were a number of departures from the club, with players either being sold to raise profits or moved on to make way for replacements that were and will be brought in during future transfer windows. 

Firstly, Ahmed Al-Ghamdi was sold to Al-Ittihad for €7.36 million. Similarly, Saad Al-Mousa departed for the same club for €6.91 million. Thereafter, Ali Abdullah Hazazi was sold to Al-Quadsiah for €5.50 million and Muhanad Al-Saad went to NEOM SC for €3.66 million. Lastly, Jaber Qarradi was shipped to Al-Diraiyah for €366,000. 

In addition to these, Mohammed Al-Kuwaykibi and Paulo Victor departed to Al-Taawoun and Al-Rayyan on free transfers. 

Top Signings for Al-Ettifaq in 2024/25

All things considered, there are still a lot of games left to be played with the midpoint of the season rapidly approaching. That said, That said, Al-Ettifaq currently sits in 11th place and has had a slow start to the season so far. All in all, the team has had mixed performances managing 4 wins and 6 losses in the new season so far. 

As of now, Marek Rodák has become a regular starter in the team while João Costa and Abdulbasit Hindi have been playing relatively well after coming off the bench for the Al-Ettifaq side.

Worst Signings for Al-Ettifaq in 2024/25

As mentioned previously, there have been numerous departures from the team that have been disposed of or sold for a very solid fee. As such, it has yielded them with valuable funds to reinvest in the team for future transfer windows. That said, the players brought in have shown some signs of being better than who they are replacing. 

With a lot of the season still remaining, it will be interesting to see how they can kick on and whether the players are able to justify their position.

Al-Ettifaq Transfer Spend Till Now

All things said it was a busy summer transfer window for Al-Ettifaq with a number of new signings and departures. By the end of it, the club spent €10.68 m whilst raking in €23.79m with their outgoings. Certainly a good bit of business by the club, they will soon need to focus on utilizing their income to bring in better players as well.

As such, it remains to be seen whether these numbers see any change during the January transfer window with incomings or players being sold or sent out on loan. 

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