Melbourne City full-back and Socceroo Aziz Behich has agreed a loan move to star-studded Saudi Pro League side Al Nassr until the end of the season.
Behich will link up with Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr following Australia’s AFC Asian Cup campaign in Qatar, where the Socceroos are preparing for a quarter-final against South Korea.
Loaned to Al Nassr until June, the 32-year-old’s temporary switch “is in line with City’s record-breaking deals in recent months”.
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Behich returned to the three-time reigning Isuzu UTE A-League premiers on a two-year deal heading into 2023-24 and made 19 appearances across all competitions this season, including 10 in the A-Leagues.
“Whilst we are disappointed to lose Aziz for the remainder of this season, this was an exciting opportunity for him as a professional footballer, and we did not want to stand in the way,” said City’s director of football Michael Petrillo.
“We’ll be following his time in Saudi Arabia closely and look forward to him returning to Melbourne in a few months’ time to prepare for the 2024-25 season.
“Though we are confident in the depth of our squad to cover Aziz, we are talking with a number of players and hope to have some new exciting announcements to share in the coming days.”
Behich, who between 2010-2014 made 89 appearances at the club formerly known as Melbourne Heart, arrived from Scottish club Dundee United, where he scored three goals in 31 appearances as they were relegated from the top flight last term.
He spent nearly a decade abroad in the Turkish Super Lig, predominantly at Bursaspor as well as Kayserispor, Giresunspor and Basaksehir FK.
This season, Behich has played 10 Isuzu UTE A-League games and 19 across all competitions, including six in the AFC Champions League.
Al Nassr are second in the Saudi Pro League, seven points behind unbeaten leaders Al Hilal after 19 rounds.
The club boast former Liverpool star Sadio Mane, ex-Inter midfielder Marcelo Brozovic, former Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte and ex-Manchester United full-back Alex Telles.
