This past week saw a glut of moves in the transfer market involving Palestinian players. The first move- Yaser Hamed Mayor’s move to Al-Rayyan SC of the Qatar Stars League was widely anticipated following his departure from Al-Masry.
The defender chose to void his contract last month after a disagreement about the wages he was owed:
The defender’s standout performances for Palestine have now led to his last three career moves. After getting Portugalete promoted to La Segunda in Spain. Hamed Mayor spent the 2019/20 season with Al-Busaiteen of the Bahraini top flight. Following the team’s relegation, the player bet on himself and didn’t sign with a club until January 2022 when he signed with Al-Masry.
The defender’s great start to the season included 3 goals in 16 appearances across all competitions and three clean sheets with the national team during the 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers.
Hamed Mayor become the first Palestinian player to sign for one of the Big 3 Gulf Leagues (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar) since Ashraf Nu’man signed for Hajer SC in 2016.
Al-Rayyan announced his signing with this spectacular video across its social media accounts:
Zidan secures second move abroad
Fadi Zidan spent 2021 in Georgia where he played a crucial role (8 goals, 3 assists in 32 appearances) in helping Torpedo Kutaisi avoid the drop. He then joined Hapoel Rishon LeZion in the second half of the season and notched four goals and assist in 15 appearances as the team survived a relegation playoff to stay in the second tier.
A national team debut last year and his consistency across multiple leagues has convinced Al-Hidd (Bahrain) to sign the player. This isn’t Al-Hidd’s first dalliance with Palestinian attackers- the club signed Khaled Salem following his hat trick against rivals Al-Muharraq in the 2021 AFC Cup.
Zidan will be hoping a good season can get him back into consideration for the national team ahead of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup
Muhamed Alghoul on the move again
Muhamed Alghoul’s last move away from Croatia did not work out exactly as planned. In spite of scoring a couple of goals for Academica- the team never looked likely to avoid relegation. The move away from NK Dubrava was a bad one for both parties as Alghoul’s former club went from fighting for promotion to getting relegated on the last day of the season.
Egypt has no shortage of Palestinian talent in its top two leagues and they will have another player in their ranks as Muhamed Alghoul agreed terms to join Wadi Degla over the weekend.
The 26 year old former Croatia U21 international will be tasked with pulling the strings in midfield for a club that has fallen on hard times following their relegation in 2020/21. Fellow Croatian, Igor Tolic, will manage the side that was once considered one of the best run clubs in the country- finishing as high as 5th in the Premier League as recently as 2015.
