Stefan Cleary Joins Beveren on Loan from Al-Ittihad

Al-Ittihad have opened the door for Stefan Cleary to step out and test himself in Europe, confirming on Tuesday night that the youngster will join Belgian side Beveren on loan until the end of the current season.

The move was announced via the club’s official X account, with Al-Ittihad giving Beveren the green light to take Cleary for the remainder of the campaign. The forward now swaps the intensity of life with “The Tigers” for a new challenge on Belgian pitches, a deliberate shift designed to accelerate his development.

This is not a goodbye. It is a calculated detour.

Al-Ittihad want Cleary playing, not watching. With competition for minutes fierce inside the squad, a loan was the clearest path to regular football. In Beveren, the club see a place where he can stack up starts, shoulder responsibility and grow through the rhythm of week-to-week action.

The plan is straightforward: Cleary stays in Belgium until the season concludes, then returns to Jeddah unless fresh twists emerge regarding his future. The door remains firmly open, but what he does over the coming months will shape how wide it swings.

Before he left, the Al-Ittihad hierarchy sent him off with a message of support, backing him to come back stronger, sharper and more seasoned after his spell abroad. The tone was clear: this is an opportunity, not an exile.

His departure slots neatly into a broader strategy. Al-Ittihad are reshaping and fine-tuning their squad, adding new faces while sending selected talents out on loan to gain experience elsewhere. Every move is framed by the fierce internal competition for places and the demands of a long, high-pressure season.

So Stefan Cleary begins a new chapter in Beveren colours, armed with his parent club’s blessing and a simple task: turn minutes into progress, promise into end product, and return to Al-Ittihad as a player ready to fight for a permanent place in the Tigers’ future.