Shock. Incredulity. Confusion.
Those were just some of the words observers used to describe Oday Dabbagh’s agreement to a three year with Royal Charleroi Sporting club of the Jupiler League starting from June 1, 2023.
Why would he do this?
This is a step backwards!
Chareroi are in 12th place!
The Belgian League isn’t as strong as the Portuguese League!
To understand the move you have to understand the thought process of a player whose main goal is to get to the best club in the strongest league.
FC Arouca offered Oday Dabbagh the opportunity to showcase his skills in Europe proving to many outside of Palestine that his skill was not the product of poor opposition in Asia.
The original contract signed by the Jerusalemite was a low risk deal for Arouca. They signed the former Hilal Al-Quds player to a two year deal, with no buyout clause and no levers triggering a raise, bonus, or extension. By December 2021, it had become obvious that Dabbagh had what it took to play at this level. That said, no offer of an extension was forthcoming a failure of planning for a side that a year later seemed insistent on recouping fair market value for the player.
Arouca’s problems deepened when Brazilian Andre Silva was shipped out to Vitoria SC for 1 million Euro. That left Dabbagh as the presumptive starter and it was only late in the summer when Arouca opened negotiations for a contractual renewal.
First contractual impasse
Ask any sporting director about contractual planning and there is one golden rule: Do not let promising young players run out their contract. Oday Dabbagh had four goals and an assist in 2021/22. Each goal involvement in his 666 minutes of play was worth its weight in gold as it allowed the club to avoid relegation by a razor thin margin.
Not only did Arouca fail to do this, they sold their top scorer without securing the future of their most prized asset. When talks did start- at the player’s request- they were not conducted swiftly enough. A salary increase was agreed to only with a huge buyout clause which caused Dabbagh to refuse the offer.
The forward would go on to miss the first seven games of the season due to the impasse. Eventually, the agreement was to sell the player in the winter transfer window and Dabbagh returned on Matchday 8. Where he scored a goal. He scored again on Matchday 9.
He scored four goals in the month of January in the Primeira Liga to follow up on his heroics in the League Cup (3 goals and a semifinal appearance) and an honorable quarterfinal exit (1 goal) in the Taça de Portugal.
Winter Transfer Window
With a week remaining in the transfer window there was no clamoring for Oday Dabbagh’s services. Football Palestine has learned of four offers- one from Egypt’s Al-Ahly, A Russian offer, and a Saudi offer (although the club in question did not want to pay a transfer fee), in addition to the interest from Royal Charleroi Sporting Club.
The chatter amongst many analysts was that a club from the Portuguese Big 3 (Sporting, Porto, Benfica) or Sporting Braga would come in with an offer for Oday Dabbagh.
In fact, this was the tried and tested method for Portuguese clubs Petar Musa cut his teeth at Boavista before moving to Benfica and Mehdi Taremi enjoyed a fantastic two seasons at Rio Ave that resulted in a move to FC Porto.
For whatever reason, none of the big Portuguese clubs came calling. Remaining at FC Arouca was an option. That said, improved salary terms would come with long term deal with an even bigger buyout clause which would only deter clubs from purchasing Dabbagh’s rights in the future.
Charleroi did everything in their power to try and bring Dabbagh over during the winter transfer window but Arouca turned down the opportunity to cash in on the six months remaining on his contract.
Arouca Caves In
On January 31st, 2023 it did seem that Oday Dabbagh would make the move to Charleroi. Armando Evangelista left him out of the squad against Benfica and when asked about why the team’s talisman did not feature the coach responded it was down to “forces of the transfer market”. That did not seem to completely line up with multiple reports that stated that Joel Pinho, the team’s sporting director, barred the player from even entering the stadium to support his teammates against the league leaders.
With what seemed to be a long six months without competitive action. Oday Dabbagh moved to secure his future- signing a pre-contractual agreement with Charleroi.
Thankfully, Arouca has backed down from their original position and Oday Dabbagh continues to feature and score for the side. Another goal against Gil Vicente on the weekend has further solidified the team’s position in the table. Arouca who notched seven league wins all last season have already matched that number and are only four points away from equaling their points total (31) from last season. They have also achieved their best ever performances in both domestic cup competitions.
With Rafa Mujíca injured, there is no other viable option attacking option to play in the number 9 position. The club knows full well that if Oday Dabbagh continues his scoring rate they could qualify for Europe for only the second time in their history. Currently in seventh place, Arouca are three points behind Vitoria and Casa Pia. Qualification for the Conference League would result in at least 350,000 Euros hitting the club’s coffers. A massive amount for a club of modest means that has just missed out on cashing in on their best players.
Why signing with Charleroi is actually a good move for Dabbagh
There has been a lot of talk about how good the Portuguese League is and that has only be furthered by the performances of Porto and Benfica in the latest edition of the UEFA Champions League but scratch the surface and the league is not all it is cracked up to be. There is a huge gulf between the haves (Benfica, Porto, Sporting) and the have nots (all the other sides bar Sporting Braga). A quick look of the top 200 exports from the league reveals that only two players were sold by clubs outside the aforementioned Big 4.
Those two transfers came when Vitoria SC sold Edmond Tapsoba to Bayer Leverkuesen at the height of the market in January 2020. The other move also involved Vitoria- the infamous transfer of Bebé to Manchester United- which was facilitated by Jorge Mendes. Short of being a client of Gestifute or an established Portuguese club transfers to bigger European leagues are harder to come by.
It is not like Oday Dabbagh is an unknown quantity he ranks in the top five of the entire Portuguese Primeira Liga in the following categories:
- Goals/90 (2nd)
- Goals+Assists/90 (5th)
- Non Penalty Goals (4th)
- xG/90 (4th)
- npxG/90 (3rd)
- Shots on Target per 90 (4th)
- Shots on Target % (3rd)
- Goals/Shot (2nd)
If he were at a club that was a savvy operator in the transfer market, Oday Dabbagh would have been renewed last year and moved this year. Arouca has never proven able to sell talents to bigger teams so why should he have risked rotting away in a side that can barely provide him service? Leaving, even to Charleroi, is a better option
Not only is the Belgian League more adept at moving players the wealth is spread out. Anderlecht, Brugge, Gent, Genk, Standard Liege, and Charleroi have all produced a Top 10 transfer abroad.
Charleroi’s big money transfer? Victor Osimhen to Lille for 22.5 Million Euros. This past season the club also sold Moroccan wunderkind Anas Zaroury to Championship leaders Burnley for 4 million Euros.
Charleroi are a club with a business model. They seek out under priced talent and flip them for a profit. That suits Dabbagh just fine and a big move could be on the horizon within 12 months.
Osimhen spent his first season on loan with Charleroi and never actually made it to a second season. Charleroi quickly snapped up his rights and flipped him to Lille. It was savvy business by the club and if Dabbagh continues to score he could soon find bigger teams encircling him who would have to compensate Charleroi in order to extract Dabbagh from the agreement he signed with the club.
Even if interest during the summer is tepid, Dabbagh would be in the shop window for clubs from the Big 4 on a weekly basis in Belgium. Should Palestine have a good Asian Cup that could generate a move as well.
For now, Oday Dabbagh will keep doing what he does best. Scoring goals.
