The exodus from Hilal Al-Quds continued this week with the departure of Palestine national team midfielder Mohammed Rashid. The midfielder, who made his name as one of the stars of the U23 side that competed in the 2018 AFC Championship, follows Abdallah Jaber and Rami Hamadi who signed for teams in the Israeli top flight earlier this year.
Mohammed Rashid becomes the latest big name player to leave the WBPL, joining Saudi First Division side Al-Jeel. Contractual terms were not disclosed to the public.
With the West Bank Premier League experiencing a financial crisis many of its stars have opted to look elsewhere. In spite of its reputation of being the best run club in Palestine, Hilal Al-Quds has not been immune to the crisis and was experiencing financial shortages before the pandemic which led to many not receiving their salaries from the first three months of the year.
For Rashid this move continues his upward trajectory of the last two and a half years. The St. Francis University alumnus parlayed his excellent form with the U23 team into senior team call-ups in 2018, forced his way onto the 2019 Asian Cup squad, appeared in two games at the continental finals, and became a surefire national team starter for Al-Fida’i shortly thereafter.
While his move to Hilal Al-Quds last year did not end in silverware the move to the Saudi First Division represents just reward for his play over the last cycle.
Rashid announced his move to Al-Jeel on social media yesterday:
Al-Jeel finished last season 13th in the 20 team league, a regression from their 2018/19 campaign when they finished fifth- a mere three points short of the promotion playoffs to the Saudi Premier League.
Al-Jeel kicks off their season on October 20th against Al-Ohod.
