BREAKING | Ritsu Doan nixes Saudi Arabia transfer | OneFootball

Eintracht Frankfurt’s planned €17m sale of Ritsu Doan to Al-Ittihad has collapsed in dramatic fashion after the Japanese international rejected the Saudi club’s offer and elected to remain in Germany. According to an exclusive report from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Doan has personally turned down the proposed move and is already on his way back to Frankfurt.

The development represents a stunning reversal only hours after Kicker reported that Eintracht and Al-Ittihad had reached an agreement over a €17m transfer. At that stage, only final formalities appeared to stand between the 28-year-old and a move to Saudi Arabia. Those formalities will now never be completed.

Doan personally kills €17m Saudi transfer

Frankfurt had reluctantly sanctioned Doan’s departure despite the attacker remaining firmly in Adi Hütter’s sporting plans. Eintracht paid approximately €21m to sign Doan from SC Freiburg only last summer and were therefore prepared to accept a loss of around €4m in order to generate urgently required transfer income. The move was driven primarily by financial necessity rather than a desire to remove Doan from the squad.

That made the proposed sale especially noteworthy. Doan was expected to play an important role under Hütter this season after struggling to reproduce his best Freiburg form during a turbulent 2025/26 campaign. Al-Ittihad nevertheless presented Frankfurt with the opportunity to secure a sizeable immediate fee. The clubs reached terms. Doan did not.

The Japanese attacker has now rejected the Saudi offer and will remain with Eintracht.

GGFN | Peter Weis