Abdoulaye Seck is reportedly on the point of joining Al-Faisaly, with accounts in Saudi Arabia picked up by Israeli outlets on Saturday indicating that the 34-year-old centre-back has travelled to the Gulf and was expected to put his signature to a contract with the newly promoted Saudi Pro League club later in the day. Seck left Maccabi Haifa this summer when his contract expired after four seasons, so the move would involve no transfer fee.
Nothing has yet been formally announced by the club or the player, and the reports stop short of describing a completed deal: Seck is said to have arrived to sign rather than to have signed. The one official trace so far is a post from the Saudi Pro League's account on X stating that the defender would sign on Saturday. Contract length and salary have not been reported.
That post carried its own sting for supporters in Israel. In introducing the incoming defender, the league's announcement made no mention of Maccabi Haifa or of any part of his career in Israeli football — an omission noted pointedly in Israeli coverage, given that his years at Haifa were the most decorated of his club career.
Seck arrived in Israel from Royal Antwerp in the summer of 2022 and became a cornerstone of the side that won the 2022/23 championship, adding the Toto Cup and the Super Cup and earning recognition as the league's best foreign player that season. He made more than 140 appearances in all competitions for the club, scoring 14 goals — none more famous than his double against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League group stage in October 2022.
Al-Faisaly return to the Saudi top flight after winning promotion, and Seck would reportedly become their second overseas signing of the window following the arrival of forward Alexander Mendy from French football. For a club preparing for life back in the elite, a physically imposing defender with continental experience represents a low-cost, high-experience addition.
For Seck himself, the move would extend a late-career peak. A winner of the Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal in 2021, he has won 26 caps and was named in his country's squad for this summer's World Cup in North America. At 34, a first contract in the Gulf would open a fresh chapter — even if, on the evidence of its first announcement, his new league is in no hurry to dwell on where the previous one was written.
