Nicola Innocentin: Al-Fateh a great project for players to join

RIYADH: Al-Fateh’s 2-1 win at Al-Raed on Friday saw them climb to firth place in the Roshn Saudi League after 11 rounds of matches.

Nicola Innocentin, the former sporting director at Al-Fateh, helped build the team that is now aspiring to break the dominance of the big boys.

After a professional playing career that took him from his native Italy to Germany and the US, Innocentin qualified as a football agent and club consultant, before taking the sporting director’s role at Al-Fateh.

During an exclusive interview with Arab News, Innocentin revealed what the unprecedented transfer window in the Saudi League looked like from a club insider’s perspective, why old habits caused his departure after less than three months in charge and how the league will continue setting records and standards for the years to come.

Arab News: You recently left your position after less than three months at the club. What happened?

Nicola Innocentin: I didn’t want to leave because I liked to work with everyone at the club, especially with (coach) Slaven Bilic and his staff. I had a probation period in my contract and that created the possibility on both sides to terminate the deal during that time frame. Probably someone in the club wanted to be in my position and the only way to get there was to get it from me. And this could only have been done inside that probation period.

How do you look back at your time there? Do you feel you left anything behind?

I look back at everything with a big smile because I have received lots of love and appreciation from many people at the club. I managed to strengthen the team with two good signings without even spending half of the budget I was given.

Did you manage to feel any connection with the