Saudi League Midfield Transformations: Al-Nassr, Al-Ahli, Al-Ittihad

The new Saudi season hasn’t even kicked off, and already the centre of the pitch looks unrecognisable. Across the league’s heavyweights, midfields have been ripped apart and rebuilt. Everyone, that is, except the champions.

Life after Brozovic at Al-Nassr

For the first time since 2023, Al-Nassr walk into a season without Marcelo Brozovic. That alone changes the feel of the team.

Brozovic wasn’t just a name on the teamsheet. He was the pivot, the metronome, the player who dropped deep, took the ball from the centre-backs and decided how the move would start. Lose that, and you don’t just lose passes. You lose certainty.

Samu Costa is the man handed the keys. Around him, Al-Nassr are redrawing the map of their midfield. The plan is clear: a new structure with Abdullah Al-Khaibari and Angelo working around the anticipated arrival of Costa, the trio expected to share the load that once sat almost entirely on Brozovic’s shoulders.

The idea is balance. More protection without sacrificing the ability to launch attacks. Less dependence on one player to knit everything together.

But can this new unit replicate Brozovic’s composure and experience in tight games, the ones that decide titles? That’s the question hanging over Al-Nassr as they step into a season without the Croatian who shaped their play from the back.

Al-Ahli tear it up and start again

Al-Ahli have chosen the same road of upheaval.

Franck Kessié has gone, ending a spell in which he became one of the side’s most reliable presences since 2023. He gave them power, presence and a constant reference in the middle. Now, like Al-Nassr, they’re not just replacing a player. They’re rewriting the script.

Eduard Spertsyan comes in as the new creative piece, lining up with Ivorian midfielder Valentin Atangana. Behind the scenes, the club continue to work on bringing in another option to complete the puzzle.

This is not a like-for-like swap for Kessié. It’s a deliberate redistribution of responsibility. The new coaching staff want a midfield that reflects their ideas, one that can adapt to domestic battles and the demands of continental competition.

Al-Ahli’s midfield will look, move and think differently next season. The familiar anchor has gone. In his place: a more fluid, shared model. Ambitious, yes. Risky, absolutely.

Al-Ittihad close the Fabinho chapter

If there is one club that has embraced change without hesitation, it is Al-Ittihad.

The Fabinho era is over. Since 2023, the Brazilian sat in front of the defence, reading danger and cleaning up. His exit is more than a tactical tweak; it’s the end of a very specific way of protecting the back line.

In his place comes Dion Lopy from Almeria, and with him, a very different identity.

Lopy joins a midfield now stamped with a clear African core: the Senegalese midfielder alongside Malian Mohamed Doumbia and Algerian Houssem Aouar. On paper, it’s a compelling blend. Power and ball-winning from Lopy and Doumbia. Technique and craft from Aouar.

Al-Ittihad are betting that this trio can bring a sharper balance, more legs, and a different tempo to the middle of the pitch. Fabinho’s departure shuts one tactical book and opens another entirely, one that leans on intensity and physical presence as much as structure.

While the storm rages, Al-Hilal stand firm

Amid all this churn, one club barely moves.

Al-Hilal look at the chaos around them and choose continuity. No radical surgery. No ripped-up blueprints.

Ruben Neves, Sergej Savic, Mohamed Kanno and Nasser Al-Dawsari remain the spine of the side. Experience, chemistry, and a shared understanding built over seasons together. That stability is not just comforting; it’s a weapon.

While their rivals spend the opening weeks searching for their best combinations, Al-Hilal can step straight onto the pitch with a midfield that already knows its routes, its triggers, its roles.

In a league where money can change squads overnight, familiarity becomes rare. This season, it might become decisive.

Everyone else is learning to walk again. Al-Hilal are already running.