Fabinho Standoff Puts Al-Ittihad in a Tough Position

The last time Al-Ittihad tried to trim the wage bill of a superstar, they watched Karim Benzema walk out of the door and into the arms of Al-Hilal. They are now flirting with the same mistake again — this time with the heartbeat of their midfield.

Fabinho, 32, has become far more than a marquee signing since arriving from Liverpool in the summer of 2023 for 46.7 million euros. He has been the structure, the balance, the quiet authority in a team that went on to win the 2024-2025 double, lifting both the Saudi Roshn League and the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Cup.

Yet as it stands, he is a free agent.

A pillar, but on a shrinking offer

His contract expired at the end of last season, and Al-Ittihad’s hierarchy want him to stay. Desperately. Inside the club, Fabinho is viewed as a cornerstone, a player around whom the midfield is built and the dressing room leans.

But the numbers are getting in the way.

According to prominent sports media figure Mohammed Al-Bukairy, the Jeddah club’s company has moved to renew Fabinho’s deal for one more year, which would keep him at the club until the end of June 2027. The problem is the package on the table.

Al-Ittihad have offered a contract on reduced terms — a lower annual salary and fewer benefits than the Brazilian earned over the past three seasons. For a player who has given them 111 matches, seven goals, nine assists and a double-winning campaign, the cut has not gone down well.

Al-Bukairy reports that Fabinho and his agent have made their displeasure clear. The camp around the player expected, at minimum, respect for his current status and a figure close to his existing wage, believed to be around 25 million euros a year.

Negotiations, though, are not dead. The same reports insist talks remain active, with both sides trying to land on a number that keeps Fabinho in yellow and black without blowing up the club’s financial structure.

Echoes of Benzema

The tension feels familiar in Jeddah.

Fabinho’s stance has inevitably drawn comparisons with the saga that surrounded Karim Benzema. Back then, Al-Ittihad also wanted to renew “the Government” — Benzema’s nickname — but on reduced financial terms. The French striker took it as an insult.

He did not haggle. He slammed the door, demanded a contract termination and left on a free in the 2026 winter window, signing for Al-Hilal on a deal running until June 2027.

That story has taken its own twist. In the capital, Benzema now finds himself unwanted on a technical level, with Al-Hilal actively trying — and so far failing — to find a buyer. A cautionary tale in both directions: for clubs wary of long, expensive contracts, and for players who chase them.

Al-Ittihad know all of this. They lived it. Which is why the Fabinho negotiations carry such weight.

Brazil calling, Europe waiting

Outside Saudi Arabia, the market has noticed the hesitation.

Several Brazilian outlets report that Cruzeiro and Palmeiras are monitoring the situation and are keen to bring Fabinho home this summer. Both clubs see the chance to add a serial winner, a player schooled at the highest level in Europe and hardened in a demanding Saudi title race.

For now, the midfielder is said to be giving priority to offers from Europe and from within Saudi Arabia. At 32, he is still in the window where a Champions League club or another ambitious Gulf side could move decisively. A return to Brazil is an option, not yet the plan.

That gives Al-Ittihad a narrow but crucial window. They know exactly what they stand to lose.

Can Al-Ittihad afford to blink?

Fabinho’s value to the Tigers cannot be measured only in goals and assists. He has been the screen in front of the defence, the organiser in possession, the player who steadies the team when games tilt into chaos. In their 2024-2025 double run, he was the constant presence in the middle of the storm.

Letting a player like that drift away over a pay cut would be a brutal sporting decision, especially for a club that still sees itself as a domestic powerhouse and a continental contender.

The board in Jeddah now stands at a crossroads it knows all too well. Hold firm on a reduced offer and risk another high-profile exit, or stretch closer to that 25 million euro benchmark and secure the spine of the team for one more push.

They lost Benzema when they blinked the wrong way.

Can they really afford to watch Fabinho walk the same path?