Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus, the head coach of Saudi club Al-Nassr, took a surprising step by assigning the duo Sami Al-Najai and Abdulmalik Al-Jaber to train and participate with the under-21 team in the upcoming period.

Jesus decided that the two players would participate in Elite League matches with the under-21 team as part of reassessing their technical and physical readiness, while keeping the door open for their return if needed.

The Saudi newspaper "Al-Riyadiyah" revealed that Sami Al-Najai has already started training with the under-21 team on Sunday, and Abdulmalik Al-Jaber is expected to join him in the coming days.

Al-Jaber joined after being excluded from the Saudi Arabia under-23 national team roster participating in the AFC U-23 Championship due to his incomplete physical and technical readiness.

The newspaper explained that Jesus might call upon the duo in first-team training if necessary, but their official participation will be through the Elite Youth League competitions for their age group.

Al-Jaber and Al-Najai are expected to join the under-21 team starting from the match against Al-Ettifaq, scheduled for January 27, as part of the twelfth round of the tournament.

Al-Nassr suffered a painful 3-2 loss to Al-Ahli in the thirteenth round of the Saudi Professional League, placing them second with 31 points, just one point behind the leaders Al-Hilal.