DUBAI: Saudi teenage talents Nawaf Al-Eid and Turki Al-Harthi, both 18 and products of Mahd Academy in Riyadh, have signed one-year contracts with Spanish club Sabadell.
The club will have an option to extend the stay of the two players, born in 2008, should they impress in their first year.
Mahd Sports Academy, situated at the Olympic Complex in the Saudi capital, is the Kingdom’s leading institution for sports excellence, and was established in July 2020 as one of the strategic initiatives under the targets of Saudi Vision 2030.
It serves as a fully integrated sports environment dedicated to discovering, nurturing, and refining talent in accordance with international standards.
Al-Eid and Al-Harthi could potentially be part of the Saudi Arabian squad that takes part in the 2034 World Cup, at which time they will both be 26 years of age and reaching their peak.
Sabadell was established in 1903 and are considered the region’s fourth-biggest club behind La Liga champions Barcelona, Espanyol and Girona.
Their Nova Creu Alta stadium has a capacity of almost 12,000 and they previously played 14 years in Spain’s top tier. They are currently in the Segunda Division, or La Liga 2, the country’s second tier of football.
Notably, Esteve Calzada, the current CEO of Al-Hilal, previously held the same post at Sabadell for six years.
Al-Eid and Al-Harthi will be following in the recent footsteps of other Saudi footballers to play in Europe, including Saud Abdulhamid currently at Ligue 1 club Lens, Faisal Al-Ghamdi (Beerschot) and Marwan Al-Sahafi (Beerschot, Antwerp), who have enjoyed loan periods in Belgium in the last two years.
Historically, there has been several cases of short-term loan deals for Saudi players in Europe. Ahead of the start of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, several national team players had professional experiences in the Spanish league for six months.
The players include Fahad Al-Muwallad (Levante), Salem Al-Dawsari (Villarreal), Yahya Al-Shehri (Leganes), Ali Al-Nimr (Numancia), Abdulmajeed Al-Sulaiheem (Rayo Vallecano), Abdullah Al-Hamdan (Sporting Gijon), Nooh Al-Mousa (Real Valladolid), Marwan Othman (Leganes), and Jaber Issa (Villarreal).
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