Media personality Waleed Al-Faraj has thrown open the file on Al-Ittihad's transfer dealings, taking aim at the way the club manages its foreign players amid the ongoing row over "the Dean's" spending and financial muscle in the current period.
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Speaking on his programme "Rotana Sport with Waleed", Al-Faraj said: "The real question is: who nominated Al-Ittihad's players? Who paid their fees? Who approved these sums? Where is the oversight?" He questioned who carries the responsibility for the decisions that landed the club with this many professionals and the costs attached to them.
"Crowded, yet the street is empty!" the Saudi media personality added, a jab at the sheer number of foreign players in Al-Ittihad's squad set against how few of them, in his view, have delivered the technical boost expected of the team.
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Al-Ittihad currently have 16 foreign players. Al-Faraj reckons only six of them can be called good from a technical standpoint, which led him to question the value of the rest and the money the club forked out to bring them in.
His comments land at a time when Roshn League clubs are speaking openly about financial crises and spending restrictions. Al-Faraj finds that baffling, particularly when some clubs are struggling financially yet have splashed large sums on signings that haven't come close to the expected technical return.
The remarks throw open a wide debate about how Saudi clubs pick their foreign players, and who shoulders the responsibility for evaluating deals and signing off on their price tags. The transfer file, after all, is tied not just to the budget but to the future of the team and its ability to get the best out of its squad across the season.