CROATIAN football player Ivan Rakitić said on Thursday that he will extend his contract with Saudi club Al-Shabab “if everything goes well” because he is satisfied with his role in the club and life in Riyadh. Rakitić, a 36-year-old midfielder, left Sevilla in January and signed a contract with Al-Shabab until the summer of 2025.
“I am very satisfied, and if everything goes well, we will extend it, there is no problem. I am satisfied, I help the club and my teammates a lot, and that is why I came,” he told radio station Radio Marca Sevilla. He said that coming to Saudi Arabia, an oil-rich country that has spent a lot of money on football in recent years, is a “big change”.
“Of course I miss my city, club, people and friends a lot,” he said, referring to the Spanish city of Sevilla where he won the Europa League in 2014 and 2023. “But I’m very happy here. We’re really good. The city is spectacular, people kind and open, I get to know the history of Saudi Arabia…” he said.
Wife and daughter are delighted with the new environment
His wife Raquel, born in Seville, and daughters “are delighted”. The daughters started school and made a lot of friends. “We are happy,” emphasized Rakitić. He said he was positively surprised by what he found.
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“There is still room for this league to be compared to the Spanish one, but the local players surprised me with their talent. They need help in working on many details,” he said. Rakitić, who played with Croatia in the 2018 World Cup final, says that there is a “great football atmosphere” in Saudi Arabia.
“On the street, they tell me about Sevilla, Barca, about La Liga, they ask me all sorts of things. They live football,” he said. “The league is growing month by month, so I’m proud to be a part of that growth,” he added. Rakitic has played five games since joining Al-Shabab. He currently has a “minor muscle injury that needs to heal” but should be back on the field soon.
The club is in the middle of the table
Al-Shabab ranks 9th among 18 clubs in the first division. “We will grow in the table week by week because things changed for the better in January and the club stabilised,” he said. Before that, the club changed two presidents and two coaches. “We have a new Portuguese coach (Vitor Pereira) with experience working in clubs like Porto and Fenerbahce. We are working well and we are strong,” concluded Rakitić.
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