AUSTRALIA: When looking at the appointment of Jens Wissing as the new manager of Al-Ittihad, it is hard not to make the comparison to Matthias Jaissle.
The 38-year-old Jaissle has transformed Al-Ahli over the past three seasons, won back-to-back continental titles and has them as ready as any team to contend for this season’s title, and he did all of it at an age where he was still young enough to be playing, never mind coaching.
It is not just both being German; Wissing, like Jaissle, is also 38 and was born in what was then West Germany in 1988 before the fall of the Berlin Wall a year later.
His career, like Jaissle’s, was also cut short due to injury with both retiring in 2014, while Wissing also spent time in recent years within the Red Bull family at Red Bull Salzburg, as Jaissle did before moving to Al-Ahli.
And, completing the similarities, both were defenders during their playing days — Jaissle a center-back, Wissing a left-back.
During their days in the Bundesliga, their paths crossed just once, in October 2010 when Jaissle’s 1899 Hoffenheim hosted Wissing’s Borussia Monchengladbach. Hoffenheim won 3-2 that day, but to take the symmetry to the ultimate level, both players came off the bench in the exact same minute, the 85th.
And now, as fate would have it, they find themselves in Jeddah on either side of the fierce divide in Saudi Arabia’s second city. Jaissle in the green corner, Wissing in the yellow.
The million-dollar question now is whether Wissing can replicate the success Jaissle has had and return Al-Ittihad to glory after another disastrous title defense.
The appointment of someone as young as Wissing is symbolic of the generational change taking place at Al-Ittihad, which is also reflective of the overall change across the league.
The previous era, full of experienced players including Karim Benzema, Abderrazak Hamdallah, Fabinho and N’Golo Kante, has ended. All of those players have departed the club, with the age profile of those coming in being markedly younger.
A fresh way of thinking was clearly needed, and Wissing is just the man to provide that in what is just his second job as a senior manager.
His first came less than a year ago, only seven months ago in fact, in Japan with Gamba Osaka, who like Al-Ittihad were a big club looking for a new direction.
Within six months he had returned the club to continental glory, beating Al-Nassr in the final of the AFC Champions League Two and only enhancing his reputation across the continent.
Al-Ittihad were clearly taking notice and liked what they saw, and part of that was his ability to place faith in the next generation. Players including 22-year-old Harumi Minamino, 19-year-old Gaku Nawata and 18-year-old goalkeeper Rui Araki blossomed under his tutelage.
It says a lot about Wissing’s methods and trust in his players that he started Araki in the AFC Champions League Two Final against a team featuring Cristiano Ronaldo, Joao Felix and Sadio Mane.
By that point, however, he was Gamba Osaka’s preferred No. 1 in the J. League and Wissing trusted his man and was duly rewarded with a near man of the match performance, with Araki making six saves to thwart Al-Nassr’s potent attack.
When you cast an eye over the young talent on the books at Al-Ittihad, it is hard not to get excited by the prospect of what they might become under Wissing.
Players including Faisal and Ahmed Al-Ghamdi, both 24, have shown previously the talent they have, but just need more opportunity. Or 20-year-old Roger Fernandes, who likewise has shown flashes of his undoubted potential, as has 18-year-old academy product Talal Haji.
All are starting with a clean slate under Wissing, who will use their pre-season camp in Spain to cast his eye over the squad ahead of the start of the season next month.
While in many respects, his appointment is about the future as much as it is about the now, Wissing will be under no illusions that he will be expected to compete from game one.
But if Al-Ittihad needs a reminder of just what is possible with both patience and trust, they need only to look across the city to what Jaissle has built.
While that journey is about to enter its fourth season, Wissing and Al-Ittihad’s is just getting started.
