Neymar joins Saudi’s Al-Hilal from PSG, says state-owned media
Brazilian is arguably biggest football star to move to kingdom’s top league
Brazilian football star Neymar has joined Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal, the biggest coup in an unprecedented summer of transfer spending for the kingdom’s league, according to the country’s state-owned media.
Neymar, 31, is arguably the biggest star to move this summer to the Saudi Pro League, the highest level of professional football in the country.
PSG, owned by state-backed Qatar Sports Investments since 2011, is to receive in the region of €90mn for Neymar, according to one person with knowledge of the deal.
He can expect to earn several times the €25mn a year he earned at PSG, the person said. Neymar and PSG did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Al-Hilal, which finished third in last season’s Saudi Pro League, had already spent roughly €178mn on players this summer, according to Transfermarkt, which tracks signings — more than any other Saudi club.
The Neymar transfer would take Saudi clubs’ spending this summer to more than €600mn.
Saudi Arabia’s $650bn sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), in June took ownership of Al-Hilal and Saudi Pro League rivals Al Ittihad, Al Ahli, and Al Nassr, supercharging their ability to buy players.
The swoop for Neymar is symbolic of how Saudi Arabia has flaunted its financial might in the world’s most popular sport.
It also shows how the PIF has challenged Qatar — host of the 2022 Fifa World Cup — for sporting supremacy.
Saudi state television Al Ekhbariya reported that Neymar would play his first match with Al-Hilal on Saturday against Al-Fayha. Saudi sports officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Neymar’s departure comes as PSG is in the middle of an overhaul that has already seen another big star, Lionel Messi, leave the club after the team failed to win the Champions League despite lavish spending.
Questions have also swirled around whether star French striker Kylian Mbappé will stay on at PSG since he has been embroiled in a spat with the club over not renewing his contract that runs out next year.
Seeking to capitalise, Al-Hilal made a bid of €300mn for him but was rebuffed by the French forward, who was this week “reinstated” into first-team training after “very constructive and positive discussions”.
The sale of Neymar may also afford PSG more time and money to negotiate a planned exit for Mbappé to prevent him from leaving for free next summer.
When PSG signed Neymar from FC Barcelona in 2017, the transfer was seen as a shift in the balance of power from a traditional football superpower to an ambitious state-backed group. The €222mn paid by PSG for Neymar remains the all-time transfer record.