Al-Ittihad Sign Ritsu Doan as Attack Reshaping Begins
Al-Ittihad are wasting no time reshaping their attack. The Jeddah giants have reached an agreement with Eintracht Frankfurt for Japan international Ritsu Doan, according to Saudi outlet Al-Riyadiah, and now stand just a few signatures away from unveiling one of their headline signings of the window.
The move is calculated, not cosmetic. Moussa Diaby’s departure to Bayer Leverkusen tore a hole in Al-Ittihad’s frontline, stripping “the Dean” of one of its most prominent attacking references. The response has been swift: replace one high-profile, European-tested attacker with another – and tweak the team’s identity in the process.
Doan, who has built his reputation across European pitches, arrives as more than a like-for-like swap. His versatility across the forward line gives the coaching staff a player who can drift wide, operate between the lines, or attack the box from deeper positions. For a club intent on breaking away from the shadows of its previous project, that flexibility is gold.
The agreement between Al-Ittihad and Eintracht Frankfurt is described as done, with only minor contractual formalities standing between Doan and the Roshn League. Both clubs are now effectively in a holding pattern, waiting for the paperwork to catch up with the footballing reality.
This transfer is a key piece in a broader rebuild. After a summer of upheaval, Al-Ittihad’s hierarchy have set about arming their coach with a different type of squad: one that can execute a new set of ideas, offer more solutions in the final third, and move on from the names that once defined the old era.
Doan is poised to step directly into the space Diaby left behind, tasked with restoring – and elevating – Al-Ittihad’s attacking threat. The message from the club is clear in its actions: the reset is real, and it will be led from the front.
Now, all that remains is the announcement. In Jeddah, fans of “the Dean” wait for the moment the Japanese international is officially folded into this new project – and for the first glimpse of how sharply this revamped attack can cut.
