Fabinho Standoff Tests Al-Ittihad’s Nerve Amid Contract Uncertainty

The numbers are simple. The situation is anything but.

Fabinho, 32, the midfield anchor who arrived from Liverpool in the summer of 2023 for 46.7 million euros, is out of contract. His deal ran down at the end of last season. For a club that built its recent success around his presence, that is a dangerous place to be.

Inside Al-Ittihad, they know it.

Club officials in Jeddah are pushing hard to keep him, with sports media figure Mohammed Al-Bukairy confirming that the Al-Ittihad company is working on a one-year extension that would carry Fabinho through to June 2027. On paper, that sounds like continuity. In reality, it has opened a fault line.

Money on the table, pride in the room

The offer on the table cuts into Fabinho’s earnings. Lower annual salary. Reduced benefits. Less than what he has taken home across the past three seasons.

For a player who has started 111 matches for the Tigers in all competitions since 2023, scored seven goals, laid on nine more, and driven a 2024–2025 double – the Saudi Roshn League and the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Cup – that feels like a step backwards. He and his agent have not hidden their displeasure, according to Al-Bukairy.

The club, though, has its own line in the sand. Negotiations continue, with both sides circling a figure close to his previous wage level of 25 million euros a year. The gap is now less about spreadsheets and more about respect.

Temptation from Brazil, priority elsewhere

While Al-Ittihad wrestle with their numbers, the market does what it always does: it moves.

Several Brazilian outlets report that Cruzeiro and Palmeiras are watching the situation closely and are ready to move for Fabinho this summer. The lure is obvious – a seasoned international, a proven leader, a title-winner in Saudi Arabia and Europe.

Fabinho’s camp, though, is keeping its eyes trained elsewhere. His priority remains European and Saudi clubs. That stance keeps Al-Ittihad squarely in the frame, but it also sharpens the pressure. If they hesitate, others will not.

A familiar warning: the Benzema precedent

For many around the club, this is not just about Fabinho. It is about what happened last time.

The tension with the Brazilian and his agent echoes the stormy end to Karim Benzema’s spell in Jeddah. Back then, Al-Ittihad also wanted to renew “the Government” – but on reduced financial terms. The Frenchman bristled at the proposal, shut the door on talks and pushed for a contract termination.

He got it. Benzema walked away on a free in the 2026 winter window and signed for Al-Hilal on a deal running until June 2027. Al-Ittihad lost a marquee name for nothing, and lost face in the process.

The twist? Al-Hilal now want rid of him. There is no place for Benzema in their plans on a technical level, and attempts to find a buyer have gone nowhere. One saga closed, another still dragging on.

Inside Al-Ittihad, the memory lingers. A star, a wage cut, a standoff, a free exit. The parallels with Fabinho are impossible to ignore.

The cost of letting a cornerstone crack

On the pitch, Fabinho has been the constant in a changing side. He screens the back line, sets the tempo, and gives licence to the flair players ahead of him. You do not replace that profile easily, not in a league where top-end talent comes at a premium and where mistakes in recruitment are brutally exposed.

The club’s hierarchy must now decide what hurts more: bending their financial structure, or watching another pillar of the project walk away for nothing.

Talks, for now, are alive. Both sides are still searching for that elusive figure that protects the club, satisfies the player, and reflects his role in their recent dominance.

But football rarely waits. With Brazilian clubs circling, European and Saudi options in his sights, and the Benzema story still fresh, Al-Ittihad are playing a high-stakes game with the man who holds their midfield together.

They gambled once and lost a superstar for free. Can they afford to roll the dice again on Fabinho?