Khamis Al-Zahrani's Warning to Al-Ittihad: A Call for Change

Al-Ittihad great Khamis Al-Zahrani has fired a stark warning shot at two of the club’s biggest names, urging Houssem Aouar and Youssef En-Nesyri to walk away from Jeddah before next season begins.

For a club bracing itself for what he calls “a very big season,” Al-Zahrani sees a squad built on sand.

A legend questions the spine

Speaking to Al-Arabiya, the former Al-Ittihad midfielder laid bare his concerns about the team’s structure under new German coach Jens Wissing, zeroing in on one area.

Depth. Or rather, the lack of it.

“Al-Ittihad is heading into a very big season, but it suffers from a problem in depth, especially with the ideas of the new German coach Jens Wissing,” he said, before dissecting the core of the issue: the midfield and the profiles needed to execute Wissing’s game.

Al-Zahrani believes the current options simply do not fit.

“Al-Ittihad needs great depth in midfield,” he explained. “Neither (Houssem) Aouar nor Fabinho nor (Youssef) En-Nesyri can perform the roles the coach is expected to demand of them, which involve direct play, pressing and quick transition.”

In one sweep, he questioned the suitability of three high-profile names for the system of a coach still finding his feet at one of the region’s most demanding clubs.

Under scrutiny and out of time

Al-Zahrani’s message is not a gentle nudge. It is a call for rapid surgery.

He stressed that Fabinho, Aouar and En-Nesyri are all under Wissing’s microscope and that decisions on their futures cannot wait.

“Al-Ittihad needs midfielders, with Fabinho, Aouar and En-Nesyri coming under the coach's scrutiny, so that he can take the appropriate decision on them as soon as possible, especially since Fabinho's contract has already ended,” he said.

The urgency is clear. Contracts, foreign player slots, tactical fit – everything is colliding against a tight preseason timeline.

Al-Zahrani painted a picture of a club that no longer has the luxury of slow evaluation. The coach, he argued, has already seen enough.

“These matters require speed in decision-making, in addition to quality in selection, especially since the coach has now got to know the players, put his finger on the wound, and must plug the gaps with distinguished signings,” he continued.

The diagnosis is complete. Now comes the painful part: acting on it.

Midfield overhaul on the horizon

Behind the scenes, movement is expected in the very area Al-Zahrani keeps circling back to.

“What I know is that Al-Ittihad will bring in midfield players, one of them a replacement for Fabinho, and the other playing in the same way as (Mamadou) Doumbia, while Aouar's situation remains linked to the team's squad and the number of foreign players,” he revealed.

One signing to directly replace Fabinho. Another in the mold of Mamadou Doumbia. And Aouar? His future, Al-Zahrani suggests, is now less about reputation and more about the arithmetic of foreign quotas and tactical necessity.

For En-Nesyri, the criticism cuts in a different way. A striker by trade, his mention in the same breath as the midfield discussion underlines how far the club may be willing to go to reshape the squad if Wissing decides he cannot accommodate him in his preferred style.

Big club, big pressure, little margin

Al-Zahrani did not shy away from the broader context either. This is not just a football puzzle; it is a financial and structural one.

“Al-Ittihad faces a thorny matter, and time is extremely tight, especially in light of the financial difficulties, in addition to the presence of a new coach who does not possess great experience in leading a big team the size of Al-Ittihad club,” he concluded.

A legend of the club questioning whether a new, relatively untested coach can handle the weight of Al-Ittihad, while calling for the exit of marquee names and a rapid rebuild in midfield, is not background noise. It is a warning siren.

The message is brutal in its simplicity: the squad, as it stands, cannot deliver what is being asked of it. The coach has identified the gaps. The money is tight. The clock is ticking.

Now Al-Ittihad must decide: double down on big names who do not fit, or rip up the script and trust a new coach, under pressure and under scrutiny, to reshape a giant on the fly.