His wing broke and he lost a foreign slot: how Al-Hilal exposed itself despite the millions of the transfer window?
Big names and huge sums of money: an equation Al-Hilal have made their calling card in the Saudi Roshn League over recent years. It doesn't always translate into a strong team capable of collecting titles.
"The Boss" ran that same equation again in the last summer transfer window. They spent vast sums, closing in on the one billion riyal mark, and landed bright names from the English Premier League. Yet they failed to build the team in the optimal way.
Al-Hilal's millions
Al-Hilal signed nine players during the last summer transfer window, including three foreign stars from the Premier League: Brazilian Gabriel Martinelli from Arsenal, Englishman Ollie Watkins from Aston Villa, and Dutchman Crysencio Summerville from West Ham.
All three joined the list of the five most expensive players in the history of "the boss". Brazilian Neymar da Silva tops that ranking at 90 million euros, with compatriot Malcom fourth at 60 million.
Martinelli slots in second at 70 million euros, according to the "Transfermarkt" website. Summerville follows in third at 64.5 million euros, while Watkins comes fifth at a value of 58.4 million euros.
The trio also broke into the 10 most expensive deals in the history of the Saudi league, with Martinelli and Summerville placing third and fourth behind Neymar and Colombian Jhon Duran, and Watkins landing in tenth.
Beyond the three foreign players, Al-Hilal added six local men, taking their total to nine signings in the last summer window for around 206 million euros, equivalent to roughly 900 million Saudi riyals.
That made Al-Hilal the biggest spenders of the last summer transfer window, and by a huge margin. Al-Ahli sit second, having spent around 84.2 million euros according to the "Transfermarkt" website.
Al-Hilal with a broken wing
Despite this enormous spending on transfers, Al-Hilal left themselves exposed in two important positions. The first is the right wing, where they no longer have a foreign player capable of filling the role as a first-choice option.
Al-Hilal chose to sacrifice their Brazilian star Malcom, who had occupied this position throughout the past three years, after he agreed to move to Emirati club Al-Jazira without the Saudi side receiving any financial return.
His departure left Sultan Mandash alone in the position, with new arrival Sabri Dahl from Al-Fayha as a possible option. The young player is one for the future, yet Al-Hilal's Italian manager Simone Inzaghi has revealed his desire to use him as a full-back.
Letting go of the Brazilian winger looks like a mistake. He is only 29, hardly past his prime, and he contributed to 88 goals in 139 matches with Al-Hilal, scoring 47 and providing 41 assists.
Al-Hilal's balance is off
What made Malcom's departure sting all the more was its purpose: to bring in his compatriot Gabriel Martinelli from Arsenal. Yet Martinelli plays mainly on the left wing, the very same position held by another new arrival, Cresencio Somerville.
Asked about this at the press conference after his win over Al-Shabab in the Riyadh derby, Inzaghi confirmed that Martinelli and Somerville would swap between the right and left flanks, since both are natural left-sided players.
Here lies the crucial question. Why does Al-Hilal, splashing out such vast sums, keep signing foreign players in the same area of the pitch while offloading the foreign player who thrived on the other flank?
Sultan Mandash will now be the only right winger in the squad. He most likely won't play, edged out by a left winger who cannot even settle for a place on the bench, whether that's Somerville or Martinelli, despite operating out of position.
The biggest problem arrives once captain Salem Al-Dawsari returns from injury. He will find himself behind two foreign wingers Al-Hilal have signed in his position, with the club refusing to sanction his move to a Saudi or Qatari league side.
The poor planning looks worse still. Al-Hilal have also signed two local wingers on the left flank who may never see the light of day: Nawaf Al-Habashi from Al-Hazm and Abdullah Al-Anazi from Al-Fateh.
Al-Hilal without 8 foreigners
Al-Hilal have 11 foreign players in their squad, yet they can't field eight of them in any starting line-up despite the regulations allowing it. The reason is poor planning, and it centres on one position: centre-forward.
Four strikers left the club last summer. Some might point to Frenchman Karim Benzema as the biggest loss, or Brazilian Marcos Leonardo, or even Uruguayan Darwin Núñez. The most important, though, was the fourth.
That man is Saudi striker Abdullah Radif, who joined Al-Ahli on a free transfer after they saw off competition from their other traditional rival, Al-Ittihad.
Radif's quality relative to the other strikers isn't the issue. His nationality is.
As a backup to Englishman Ollie Watkins in Roshn League matches, Radif was the ideal solution. He gave the club the option of starting all eight foreigners rather than holding one back on the bench, as has been the case recently.
Now Inzaghi has to keep Ivorian Mohamed Kader Meïté among the substitutes and start only seven foreigners, so he can turn to him should Watkins need replacing for any reason.
The dilemma took root last winter. Abdullah Al-Hamdan joined Al-Nassr and Radif went out on loan, and while the team suffered for it in the second half of last season, the summer window brought no fix.
So Inzaghi is left with a choice: field only seven foreigners in the starting line-up, or leave the bench without a backup striker and trust the wingers to fill in when needed.
A hole in the heart
One problem the summer transfer window failed to solve at Al Hilal, and in fact made worse, is the centre-back crisis. "The Leader" did not sign a single player in the position, despite Inzaghi making clear he wanted to.
Al Hilal ended last season with five defenders. Spaniard Pablo Mari left when his loan expired, and Turkey's Yusuf Akcicek came close to following him out of the door before the move collapsed in the final moments.
Four defenders remain on the books, a number that looks adequate enough on paper. The picture changes, though, once the competitions heat up and the grind of fixtures starts producing injuries.
What is striking is that Al Hilal felt the pinch early. Ali Lajami and Yusuf Akcicek both went down, Senegal's Kalidou Koulibaly only arrived in time to face Al Ahli, and Hassan Tambakti had barely recovered from his own injury.
Should the problem return, Inzaghi may be forced to deploy Portuguese midfielder Ruben Neves at the back again, as he did against Neom. That would strip Al Hilal of their most influential player in midfield.
The solution lies in Liverpool's mind
The Scot Richard Hughes is Al-Hilal's new sporting director, and his first task is to dismantle the mentality that shaped the Saudi club's last two transfer windows.
Hughes arrives after two years at Liverpool since 2024, where he pulled off a string of strong deals both in terms of names and quality.
Big names are not always the answer. Neither is lavish spending. What Al-Hilal need instead is a plan to build a complete team, one with quality in every position, using every available slot to strengthen itself rather than simply weaken its rivals.
