Conceicao: I went to Saudi Arabia for the money and the mentality of the Saudi player is bad!
Explosive remarks
Sergio Conceicao has lit the fuse. The Portuguese, formerly in charge of Al-Ittihad, has provoked widespread controversy with sharp comments about his time with "the Dean", speaking frankly about the financial motives behind his move to Saudi Arabia and taking aim at the work mentality and discipline of some Saudi players. The gap between the scale of the investment and the demands of professionalism, he argued, still holds the game back.
Asked on the "La Tripletta" podcast why he made the switch, Conceicao said he wouldn't be honest if he claimed the beauty of the Saudi league was behind it. The tempting financial offer, he stressed, played a key role.
He had expected the vast investment to improve the football system, he added, only to be surprised by how hard it was to impose the working methods and the rigour he'd grown used to in Europe. Coaches and players arriving from abroad, he noted, are sometimes asked to adapt quickly to completely different circumstances.
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Conceicao attacks the mentality of the Saudi player
The Portuguese coach aimed his criticism squarely at what he called a lack of commitment among some Saudi players, arguing the gap isn't just about technical ability. It's about work culture and daily discipline.
Local players, in his experience, don't always hold themselves to the standards foreign professionals apply, and that makes his job harder. His verdict: "Their mentality is bad."
Some players would skip training for family or religious reasons, he added, among them waking for the dawn prayer. Morning sessions, he pointed out, were at times a challenge.
Conceicao sees all this as a difference in work culture he finds hard to accept, according to his statements. Discipline, rigour and the ability to work day in, day out are the building blocks of any team capable of competing.
Benzema and Fabinho are not the problem: the accusations extend to the management
Conceicao refused to pin Al-Ittihad's problems on the foreign stars, Karim Benzema and Fabinho chief among them. Having players of that experience was never the issue, he insisted. The challenges he faced were down to other people and to the working conditions inside the club.
His sharpest words were reserved for the way the management handled public opinion. The club leans heavily on results and reactions on social media, he said, and he claimed news was sometimes leaked to test the fans and gauge their mood.
Those remarks follow the disputes that dogged his spell at Al-Ittihad, which ended with his exit after a season without the titles the club had targeted.
Conceicao still made a point of thanking the Kingdom, Al-Ittihad and its officials for the warm welcome his family received. Yet he questioned the value of spending huge sums on foreign expertise to develop football if, as he sees it, the day-to-day conditions needed to turn that investment into results on the pitch simply aren't there.
