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Done dealUpdated 09:47 UK · 27 Aug

Dion Lopy to Al-Ittihad
Almeria midfielder completes €13m move

AlmeriaAlmeriaAl IttihadAl IttihadFee€13mReliability100%
The story so far
  1. 5 Aug
    Move confirmed
    Al-Ittihad officially announced Dion Lopy's signing from Almeria as their first foreign arrival of the summer.
  2. 3 Aug
    Fee agreed
    Fabrizio Romano reported Al-Ittihad had reached an agreement in principle with Almeria for Lopy, with a medical then arranged.

The move in full

Al-Ittihad have completed the signing of Senegal international Dion Lopy from Almeria in a deal worth a reported €13m, with the defensive midfielder replacing Fabinho in Jens Wissing's new-look squad.

Al-Ittihad have completed the signing of Senegal international Dion Lopy from Almeria, confirming the move on 5 August 2026 as their first foreign signing of the summer. The Saudi Pro League club paid a reported fee of around €13m, with add-ons that could push the total package towards €19m according to transfer reporter Fabrizio Romano, while Almeria have also secured a 10% sell-on clause on any future sale. Lopy has signed a three-year contract running to 2029, arriving in Jeddah just ten days before the new Saudi season kicks off. Unveiled by his new club, he said: "I am ready to write a new chapter and to fight for this shirt every single minute. I have become a Tiger."

The move fills the gap left by Fabinho, who left Al-Ittihad when his contract expired at the end of last season. New head coach Jens Wissing, appointed on a two-year deal after replacing Sergio Conceicao in the summer, has been building a midfield with more physical presence and energy in front of the back four. Lopy, primarily a defensive midfielder who is also comfortable in a deeper holding role, is expected to line up alongside Mali's Mohamed Doumbia and Algeria's Houssem Aouar, giving Al-Ittihad's engine room a strong African core mixing ball-winning with technical quality. The club's sporting director welcomed the signing publicly, saying he expected Lopy to fit into the squad's plans for the season quickly.

For Almeria, it is a significant loss. Lopy joined the club from Stade Reims in 2023 and went on to make more than 100 appearances across three seasons, establishing himself as a regular starter in central midfield. The timing makes the departure sting more: he is reported to have signed a new contract at Almeria only weeks earlier, running to 2030, having turned down interest from Aston Villa to commit his future there. That decision came as Almeria pushed for a return to La Liga — they finished third in the Segunda Division and reached the promotion play-off final, only to lose to Malaga. Losing a key midfielder so soon after missing out on promotion, even for a substantial fee, leaves Almeria needing to rebuild in central midfield as they prepare for another season in Spain's second tier.

Lopy was a near-ever-present for Almeria last season, starting all but a handful of his appearances in the Segunda Division and contributing goals as well as doing the defensive legwork — tackling, intercepting and covering ground box to box. He also picked up a number of yellow and red cards over the campaign, reflecting the combative side of his game that first caught Al-Ittihad's attention. He has been capped by Senegal since making his international debut in 2023, though he has yet to feature at a major tournament such as the Africa Cup of Nations or the World Cup.

At Al-Ittihad, Lopy is expected to provide the defensive screening and ball-winning that the club lacked once Fabinho left, while offering enough composure on the ball to help move play into more advanced areas. He has already been pencilled in for an early test, with a debut expected in Al-Ittihad's AFC Champions League Elite preliminary play-off against the UAE's Al-Jazira. How quickly he adapts to Saudi football and to Wissing's system will shape whether Al-Ittihad's midfield can support both a domestic title challenge and a run in Asia's leading continental competition.

What it does to the model

For bawler.ai, Al-Ittihad's numbers for chances created and chances conceded through midfield will need to reflect Lopy once he's established in the starting XI, rather than the departed Fabinho — that's tracked as games are actually played, not assumed from the fee. Almeria go into their new Segunda Division season without a key regular from a squad that reached the promotion play-off final, which feeds into how Bawler reads their form until a settled midfield replacement emerges.

How this is scored100%
  • Announced by the clubs100

A sourcing score, not a chance of completion: it grades how solid the reporting behind the move is. The stage and the evidence come from the sources listed below; the arithmetic is fixed in code, the same for every deal.

Sources

Related: Al Ittihad team page · All transfersAl Ittihad — every match prediction

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