Ittihad Jeddah are reportedly in a clash with Hilal over French club Sochaux ace Jawad Zairi, Saudi daily Al-Riyadh reported on Saturday. Sochaux agreed on a $700,000 deal with Hilal until the end of the season and at the same time opened negotiations with Ittihad, a matter that drove the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) professional committee to send the issue to Prince Sultan Bin Fahd to take the right decision. Hilal officials sent a formal petition to the SAFF president against Ittihad president Mansour Al-Balwi and complained that Ittihad interfere with most of their signings, last of which was with Yasse Al-Qahtani. Nevertheless, it is expected that the player be denied permission to play with either club for numerous reasons, one of which was that both the player and his club manipulated Hilal and Ittihad officials and held negotiations with both sides at the same timing, an aspect which caused confusion and unrest in the football scene. On another hand, the Moroccan player might end up moving to Lyon instead of the Saudi league after the French club boss revealed interest in signing Zairi, Saudi paper Al-Watan reported. The Lyon boss also insisted that they reached an agreement with Sochaux to sign the player after he's done with Morocco's African Cup of Nations (ACN) campaign in Egypt. Meanwhile, Zairi told Sky Sports that he preferred playing with Lyon given that it was one of the best clubs in France. “Sochaux president informed me of a Lyon offer, and he wanted to know my answer, I will look into this after the African Cup. It will be only a matter of time before I move to Lyon, unless something wrong happens,” Zairi said.
