The Saudi Arabian players landed in Spain this morning and will attend training this Tuesday
Villarreal CF’s new Saudi Arabian players, Salem Al Dawsari and Jaber Eissa, will be officially presented this Wednesday 31st January in an event that will take place in the press room at the Estadio de la Cerámica at 12pm CET. The event will be led by a member of the Villarreal CF Board of Directors and will be broadcasted live on the Villarreal CF Live multiplatform.
Both players arrived in Madrid today and will travel to Valencia this afternoon on a high speed train (AVE) and are expected to arrive at the Joaquín Sorolla train station at 7:30pm. Tonight they will stay at the Hotel Plana Parc de Les Alqueries and tomorrow morning they will train with their new teammates at the Villarreal CF Training Ground (Ciudad Deportiva). Salem Al Dawsari will play under Javi Calleja for the Villarreal CF First team and Jaber Eissa will join the Villarreal B team managed by Miguel Álvarez.
Salem Al Dawsari and Jaber Eissa were welcomed in Madrid this morning by their Villarreal CF teammates Enes Ünal, Roger Martínez, Carlos Bacca and Leo Suárez, who were in the Spanish capital for bureaucratic reasons.
On loan until the end of the season
Salem Al Dawsari and Jaber Eissa will play on loan for Villarreal CF and Villarreal CF B, respectively, until the end of the season. These loan signings are a part of a project that Villarreal CF is participating in together with LaLiga, the General Sports Authority of Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Arabian Football Federation to promote their football. Within this framework, Villarreal CF has been working with LaLiga to scout international players and young promising Saudi Arabian talents to determine which player shall be newly incorporated into their squad. With the arrival of Salem Al Dawsari, Villarreal CF will have a player in their squad that will help them to gain visibility in the Arab world, where LaLiga is the most followed international competition.
At 26 years of age, Salem Al Dawsari (Wadi Aldwaser, Saudi Arabia, 19/08/1991) is a right-footed midfielder who can play on either wing. He was playing for Saudi Arabian side ‘Al Hilal’, before coming on loan to Villarreal CF. Since Al Hilal got promoted in the 2011/12 season, when Salem was playing for the club’s U23, he has played a total of 161 matches, scored 28 goals and provided 23 assists.
Salem Al Dawsari is an international player for the Saudi Arabia senior team and has earned 17 caps for his country and even scored 2 goals. In 2017 he played in two Russia 2018 World Cup qualifying matches against Australia (lost 3-2, scored one goal) and against the United Arab Emirates (lost 2-1). Despite these results, Saudi Arabia qualified for the World Cup that will take place this summer. Salem also played four matches for Saudi Arabia U20 in the U20 World Cup held in Colombia in 2011.
Jaber Eissa will join Villarreal B
This agreement also involves the loan of young Saudi Arabian, Jaber Eissa, who will join the Villarreal B team. The 20-year-old, strong, right-footed midfielder will play on loan for the Yellows Reserves until the end of the season. Jaber Eissa comes on loan from ‘Al Shabab’.
