Bondarenko transfer corruption and the choice of Bosic: Roy Pedro opens fire on his critics at Al-Ahly

Rui Pedro responded to those accusations in a lengthy interview with the Portuguese newspaper "A Bola", saying: "All signings must obtain technical and financial approval from the recruitment committee of the Saudi Pro League."

"The Bondarenko deal was approved by the committee at a value of 14 million euros, whereas the deal cost only 7 million, and his salary was less than half the salary that had been approved. He also received an outstanding assessment from a technical standpoint," he explained.

"Therefore, this is absurd talk with no basis in truth. Everything was done in a highly transparent manner," he added.

Then came the detail. "We signed a new coach five days before the start of the season, and this coach had no influence over the selection of the squad. When he arrived, he identified a shortage in one of the positions and said he needed a player with certain characteristics so that the team could keep possession of the ball more. He nominated a player he wanted to rely on, one he had worked with for two seasons at Shakhtar," he said.

He continued: "The player was approved by the club and the recruitment committee, and we had to make a decision at that moment, to give the coach our trust and to help him make the team play the way he wanted."

"That is how the signing of Bondarenko came about, someone who was not originally among the list of targeted players at the outset," he concluded.

Pedro said he knew the source of those accusations, explaining: "I usually don't pay attention to what happens on social media, which carries a great deal of weight in Saudi Arabia."

He continued: "There is no oversight at all, and there are many fake pages, and many influencers who receive money to shape public opinion in favour of or against a particular person. Everything is very chaotic and very violent."

The club and the Public Investment Fund knew exactly who was behind it, he said. "They made a point of telling me that they knew the attack did not arise spontaneously, but was rather an organised attack."

He added: "We were in agreement about the identity of the main parties and the reasons that led to all of this happening. They even offered me a formal, written apology, and told me that the same thing had happened to my predecessor in the post, which also accelerated his departure."

His predecessor had it worse, Pedro went on. "In his case, it was more serious, as they used to wait for him at the gate of his daughter's school. As for me, my family was not in Jeddah, so dealing with the matter was not as difficult, but I can imagine what it was like for him."

He continued: "In other words, none of this is new, and I was not the first to personally suffer the consequences of these situations and behaviours. As for now, I am not entitled to reveal anything, but they identified everything completely."

On another note, Rui Pedro refused to consider that winning the AFC Champions League Elite title was the greatest achievement of his career, or even with Al-Ahli, explaining: "The standout achievement of my career was winning the league with Benfica, and being able to collect titles and contribute to raising the club to a status more expressive of its history and standing."

"Five consecutive years in the UEFA Champions League, always achieving good results, taking part in the Club World Cup, and four official titles," he added. "We also deserved to win some additional titles, but I am very proud of what was achieved at Benfica, and of representing that club which, above all, is also the club of my heart."

He continued: "Certainly, winning the AFC Champions League is an important achievement, but there are things achieved at Al-Ahli that people today do not give the same degree of importance to, yet over time they will realise the scale of what was accomplished."

"Al-Ahli were in the second division three or four years ago, then became one of the clubs acquired by the Public Investment Fund, but during the first two years of the Fund's project, they lost 37 points and then 35 points in the league respectively, and were always far from competing for the title," he explained.

He went on: "In the year I arrived, in October, and after playing 6 or 7 rounds, Al-Ahli were already 8 points behind Al-Nassr, and finished the season just 5 points behind them."

"Since we started working with new rules and with a greater degree of rigour and discipline, no team collected more points than Al-Ahli in the league, during the period from October until the end of the season," he added.

He continued: "This happened at a club that had not won the league or the cup for more than 10 years. We were in the competition until the very end in all the domestic competitions, and in the end we won the AFC Champions League. It was an exceptional season by all measures."

"We broke the record for the number of goals scored, we broke the record for the number of points, we were the best defence in the league, Ivan Toney was the top scorer of the season, and we sent 10 players to the World Cup," he explained.

He elaborated: "It is work I feel great pride in, and over time the true picture of the scale of what was achieved during that period, on and off the pitch, will become clear."

"I believe that raising a club's average win rate from 61% to 76% without signing players or changing the coach represents very strong evidence of what can be achieved solely through professionalism and discipline, applying clear rules, and providing very strong support from the sporting management for the coach's work," he went on. "Daily details are what deliver the victories and titles."

"Then, raising the total value of the squad by 17% during a single transfer window also represents a very strong step towards consolidating a project intended to be sustainable," he added.

He continued: "Reviving an academy that was dying, which today delivers excellent results, including competing for the Joy Elite League under-21 title."

"Elevating the entire medical department to other levels of rigour and requirements, creating the scouting, data and analysis departments from scratch, restructuring the infrastructure and the entire performance building, which was operating at less than 50% of its capacity, and applying strict rules in negotiations and transparency in the transfer market," he went on.

He concluded: "Perhaps winning the AFC Champions League is the most visible face of success, but in terms of the club's sustainability and long-term survival, we achieved other, more important and more impressive accomplishments."

Al-Ahli's former sporting director also lifted the lid on the decision to bring in Dutchman Marino Pusic at the start of this season, after German coach Matthias Jaissle left for Newcastle United.

He explained: "We ended up signing Marino Pusic, but since I regard the Portuguese as being among the best coaches in the world, it might have been very logical for us to go in that direction."

"But the club immediately informed me that I could not go down that road (signing a Portuguese coach), because it would be another source of conflict and suspicion," he added.

Going further, he said: "They would have said that I pushed Matthias (Jaissle) out in order to bring in a Portuguese coach, which makes no sense at all, because Matthias left by his own personal decision, and Newcastle paid the release clause in his contract."

"But generally speaking, and in terms of the overall picture, what was constantly being conveyed to the fans was that the situation had deteriorated to a point where there was no longer any possibility for us to continue working, and nothing could be further from the truth, because we always worked in a harmonious, honest and respectful manner right up until the last day," he continued.

He concluded: "Vitor Pereira was my choice (for Al-Ahli). He is an exceptional coach, and I am one of the greatest admirers of his work, in addition to the fact that he has considerable professional experience in the Saudi league, having previously worked with Al-Ahli and Al-Shabab. As for whether he would agree or not, that is another story."

João Pedro also revealed the details of the dispute that arose between him and his compatriot João Félix, following Al-Ahli's win over Al-Nassr last season in the Roshn League.

He explained: "I spoke with João several times afterwards, and he fully understood that it was just a misunderstanding."

He added: "Al-Nassr were having an outstanding season, under the brilliant leadership of coach Jorge Jesus, and with a team led by Cristiano (Ronaldo). Had we not won that match, we would have immediately fallen out of the title race."

On the personnel problems that day, he continued: "On that day we did not have (Roger) Ibañez, who had been sent off in the previous match, and we were also missing (Edouard) Mendy, (Riyad) Mahrez and (Franck) Kessié due to their involvement with their national teams in the Africa Cup of Nations."

He went on: "Our goalkeeper was the Saudi (Abdulrahman) Al-Sanbi, and in the first half we were leading 2-0, but he made a big mistake that brought Al-Nassr back into the match."

Al-Ahli regrouped, he said: "We went into the break with the score level, and there the players rallied around Al-Sanbi, and in the end we won the match, with Al-Sanbi making some superb saves."

He added: "In that moment, all I thought about was celebrating with that young man who had just been through a very difficult moment. I did not even realise I was passing right by João, and when it was brought to my attention I felt somewhat surprised, and afterwards I understood what had happened."

He concluded: "I apologised to João, but, as is clear, everyone was in a state of high emotion, and afterwards we talked, and everything was over."