Video: Al-Farraj opens the file on Al-Ittihad's foreign players: where is the oversight?

What did the famous media personality say?

Media personality Waleed Al-Farraj has opened the file on Al-Ittihad's signings, directing sharp criticism at the way the club manages its foreign players, amid ongoing controversy about the spending and financial capacity of "the Dean" during the current period.

Al-Farraj put the questions bluntly on his programme "Rotana Sport with Waleed": "The real question is: who recommended Al-Ittihad's players? Who paid their fees? Who approved these sums? Where is the oversight?" He wanted to know who was responsible for the decisions that led to this number of professionals and the costs attached to them.

"Crowded, yet the street is empty!" the Saudi media personality added, pointing to the sheer number of foreign players in Al-Ittihad's squad set against how few of them, in his view, have delivered the technical contribution the team expected.

By his count, Al-Ittihad currently have 16 foreign players. Only six of them can be considered good from a technical standpoint, he believes, which led him to question the value of the rest of the signings and the financial cost the club shouldered to complete them.

These comments land at a time when Roshn League clubs are talking about financial crises and restrictions on spending. Al-Farraj finds that surprising, especially if some clubs are struggling financially at the very time they spent large sums on signings that did not deliver the anticipated technical return.

His remarks throw open a wide debate about how Saudi clubs select their foreign players, and who carries the responsibility for evaluating deals and approving their financial value. The signings file, after all, is tied not only to the budget but to the future of the team and its ability to get value from its squad across the season.