The football league in Saudi Arabia has one more attraction: the move of Brazilian attacking star Neymar from France’s serial champions Paris Saint-Germain to Al-Hilal is perfect. In a 70-second video clip posted by the Saudi club on Tuesday, the 31-year-old announced: “I’m here in Saudi Arabia. I’m in Hilal.” PSG also confirmed the move and called Neymar a “club legend”.
The club initially gave no information about the length of the contract. However, according to media reports, Neymar is said to have been given a two-year contract. The Brazilian could make his debut for his new club next Saturday in the game against Al-Fayha.
Neymar follows Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Sadio Mané and other stars in the Saudi Pro League, which is having a major impact on the transfer market this summer with massive investments. At the disappointing 0-0 start to the season against FC Lorient, Neymar was no longer in the PSG squad.
According to Saudi Arabia-funded news channel Al-Arabija, PSG are set to receive a transfer fee of €90m, while Neymar’s annual earnings are even higher at €100m. Neymar moved to Paris from FC Barcelona in 2017 for the record sum of 222 million euros. But the eccentric professional at PSG was never really happy. In terms of sport, he and the club missed the goal they had set themselves of winning the Champions League, and there was trouble with the fans. At the beginning of May, dozens of supporters went to Neymar’s luxury property and loudly “Neymar out!” screamed.
The British portal “The Independent” reported on Monday that Neymar actually wanted to continue his career in Europe. In addition to Manchester United, Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester City, the 31-year-old is said to have been offered to Bayern Munich. None of the clubs mentioned wanted to pay the transfer fee and salary. According to the report, there was only interest in signing Neymar at FC Barcelona, where Neymar played from 2013 to 2017.
Neymar was no longer wanted at PSG. Coach Luis Enrique and sporting director Luis Campos want a fresh start – without Lionel Messi, who has moved to the USA, and without Neymar. Whether the third superstar Kylian Mbappé will leave the club this summer is an open question. Al-Hilal is said to have recently been interested in signing the World Cup top scorer and offered a record fee of 300 million euros for it. But the 24-year-old is said to have waved it off.
Neymar, on the other hand, succumbed to the lure of money. Just like Ronaldo, who was the first football star to move to the desert state last winter, Neymar is now continuing his career in the still rather insignificant league. Al-Hilal had already paid high transfer fees this summer for Malcom (around 60 million euros), Rúben Neves (55 million), Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (40 million) and Kalidou Koulibaly (23 million). In Saudi Arabia, Neymar also meets former Bayern pro Sadio Mané, Real Madrid’s ex-scorer Karim Benzema and Liverpool’s longtime captain Jordan Henderson. The German coach Matthias Jaissle also signed a contract there with Al-Ahli.
Critics see the massive investments in professional football and other sports as an attempt to polish the image on the back of top-class sport. There are numerous criticisms of the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia.
Note: This article has been updated and supplemented.
