Al-Ahli Signs Abdullah Radif After Jaissle Exit
Al-Ahli have answered a week of turbulence with a punchy move in the market, sealing a deal for Saudi striker Abdullah Radif just as Al-Diriyah tried to hijack the transfer.
The Jeddah club has been reeling from the resignation of German coach Matthias Jaissle, who has stepped down to take over at Newcastle United next season, replacing Eddie Howe. While supporters digest the loss of the architect of their recent resurgence, the board has pushed ahead with its squad build for the new campaign.
On Saturday, Saudi daily Asharq Al-Awsat reported that Al-Ahli have wrapped up an agreement with Radif, formerly of Al-Hilal, on a free transfer after his contract in Riyadh expired. The 23-year-old has signed a four-year deal that runs through to 2030, adding another young Saudi attacker to a squad already heavy with star power.
This was not the straightforward free-agent swoop it first appeared. Radif had initially given the green light to join Al-Ahli, only for newly promoted Al-Diriyah to storm into the negotiations. Fresh from their rise to the Roshn League and eager to make a statement, they came close to snatching the forward from under Al-Ahli’s nose.
The Jeddah hierarchy held their nerve. They reasserted their position, pushed the deal over the line and are now only waiting on final administrative procedures and the player’s signature on the paperwork before making the move official.
For Radif, it is the latest twist in a stop-start early career. Al-Hilal announced his definitive departure on 7 July, ending a five-year spell in the first team that never quite caught fire. The club repeatedly sent him out on loan – to Al-Taawoun, Al-Shabab, Al-Ettifaq and most recently Al-Feiha – in search of minutes and maturity.
There was almost a very different outcome. Radif had previously agreed terms with Al-Ittihad on a three-year contract worth 27 million riyals, 9 million per season, only for the Jeddah rivals to pull out when the financial liquidity to complete the deal failed to materialise. That collapse opened the door for Al-Ahli, and they have now walked straight through it.
His most recent stint, at Al-Feiha in the second half of last season, underlined both the promise and the frustration. He appeared in only eight matches, failed to score, but still chipped in with two assists. Glimpses, not yet a body of work.
At Al-Ahli
The pathway is clear but demanding. Radif is expected to start as the club’s third striker, fighting for minutes behind England international Ivan Toney and Saudi forward Firas Al-Buraikan, and competing directly with Brazilian Ricardo Matias. It is a depth chart that should sharpen his edges quickly. Either he adapts to the tempo of a club with title ambitions, or he gets left behind.
This signing also speaks to the broader shape of Al-Ahli’s summer. Radif becomes their sixth addition of the window, joining Gambian midfielder Aboubakar Sidi Kinte, Portuguese winger Francisco Trincao, Armenian playmaker Eduard Spertsyan and Saudi duo Meshaal Al-Mutairi and Nayef Masoud. The spine is being rebuilt, layer by layer, even as the coach who was supposed to knit it all together heads for England.
The mood around the club this week has been conflicted: anxiety over Jaissle’s departure, curiosity over who comes next, and now a flicker of optimism about a homegrown striker arriving at a pivotal age. At 23, with his big-club schooling, multiple loans and a major move that collapsed at the last moment, Radif walks into Jeddah with something to prove.
Al-Ahli have given him four years to do it. The question now is whether a player once on the fringes at Al-Hilal can turn a disrupted journey into a breakthrough in green.
