{"id":54856,"date":"2023-08-15T20:49:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-15T20:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/08\/15\/neymar-quits-psg-to-sign-for-saudi-arabias-al-hilal-on-two-year-deal\/"},"modified":"2023-08-15T20:49:00","modified_gmt":"2023-08-15T20:49:00","slug":"neymar-quits-psg-to-sign-for-saudi-arabias-al-hilal-on-two-year-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/08\/15\/neymar-quits-psg-to-sign-for-saudi-arabias-al-hilal-on-two-year-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Neymar quits PSG to sign for Saudi Arabia\u2019s Al-Hilal on two-year deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Neymar said he was relishing \u201cnew challenges and opportunities in new places\u201d after he joined Saudi Arabia\u2019s Al-Hilal from Paris Saint-Germain on a two-year deal, becoming the latest big name lured to the oil-rich Gulf state.<\/p>\n

The Brazil forward, 31, ends a six-year stay in the French capital and follows in the footsteps of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Sadio Mane in swapping Europe for the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have achieved a lot in Europe and enjoyed special times, but I have always wanted to be a global player and test myself with new challenges and opportunities in new places,\u201d Neymar said in a statement from the Saudi Pro League.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to write new sporting history, and the Saudi Pro League has tremendous energy and quality players at the moment,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cAl-Hilal is a giant club with fantastic fans, and it is the best in Asia. This gives me a feeling that it is the right decision for me at the right time with the right club. I love winning and scoring goals, and I plan to continue doing that in Saudi Arabia and with Al-Hilal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stream Over 50 Sports Live & On-Demand with Kayo. Join now and start streaming instantly ><\/a><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

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Brazilian forward Neymar. Photo by Saudi Pro League \/ AFP<\/span>Source: AFP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Neymar joined PSG from Barcelona in 2017 for a world record fee of AU$375 million, a few weeks before they recruited Kylian Mbappe.<\/p>\n

The Brazilian scored 118 goals in 173 matches for PSG, winning five Ligue 1 titles and three French Cups, but his time at PSG was blighted by a catalogue of injuries.<\/p>\n

Although he helped the club to the 2020 Champions League final, which they lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich, he was sidelined for key games.<\/p>\n

Neymar underwent surgery on his right ankle in early March, only returning to join PSG on their pre-season tour of Asia.<\/p>\n

However, he no longer figured in new coach Luis Enrique\u2019s plans and was immediately linked with a move to Al-Hilal, where he will earn \u201c100 million euros a season\u201d, according to a source close to the negotiations. However, other reports suggest Neymar will pocket around $541 million over the course of his two-year contract.<\/p>\n

PSG will not come close to recouping the fee they paid for Neymar but will still pocket close to 100 million euros as well, according to the same source.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is always difficult to say goodbye to an amazing player like Neymar, one of the best players in the world,\u201d said PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi in a statement from the French champions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will never forget the day he arrived at Paris Saint-Germain, and what he has contributed to our club and our project over the last six years. We had a great moment and Neymar will always be a big part of our history.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Paris Saint-Germain’s Brazilian forward Neymar. Photo by Bertrand GUAY \/ AFP<\/span>Source: AFP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Al-Hilal have traditionally been one of Saudi Arabia\u2019s top clubs and have been crowned Asian Champions League winners on four occasions.<\/p>\n

They are also one of the four clubs \u2014 along with Al-Nassr, Al-Ahli and Al-Ittihad \u2014 owned by Saudi Arabia\u2019s Public Investment Fund (PIF).<\/p>\n

Al-Hilal are coached by Portugal\u2019s Jorge Jesus, who is in his second spell at the club, while the squad currently boasts four international players recently lured from Europe \u2014 Ruben Neves, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Kalidou Koulibaly and Neymar\u2019s Brazilian compatriot Malcom.<\/p>\n

Last month Al-Hilal made a 300-million-euro bid for Mbappe, though the striker reportedly refused to meet with officials from the team.<\/p>\n

Neymar\u2019s departure from PSG follows that of Lionel Messi who now plays for Inter Miami in the United States.<\/p>\n

It comes barely 48 hours after Mbappe was reinstated to PSG\u2019s first team, ending a stand-off over a contract dispute that had rumbled on for several weeks between the France captain and the Ligue 1 club.<\/p>\n

French media reported Mbappe made Neymar\u2019s departure one of the necessary conditions for him to sign a new contract in 2022, when the former was strongly linked with a move to Real Madrid.<\/p>\n

While Mbappe is now back in the fold, for the time being at least, Neymar has instead added himself to a growing list of high-profile players who have accepted the Saudi riches on offer.<\/p>\n

The deal brings an end to an indifferent relationship with PSG, a club he wanted to leave to return to Barcelona in 2019 before signing a contract extension until 2027.<\/p>\n

Paris were open to Neymar leaving last season, but his estimated salary of 30 millions euros a year put off any potential buyers.<\/p>\n

He started the season strongly but was hit by the latest in a series of ankle injuries at the World Cup in Qatar, where he equalled the late Pele\u2019s Brazil record with his 77th international goal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Neymar said he was relishing \u201cnew challenges and opportunities in new places\u201d after he joined Saudi Arabia\u2019s Al-Hilal from Paris Saint-Germain on a two-year deal, becoming the latest big name lured to the oil-rich Gulf state. The Brazil forward, 31, ends a six-year stay in the French capital and follows in the footsteps of Cristiano […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[2228,1800,8213,1641,547,548,20415,27193,27188,1192,27185,2054,10747,1429,27186,149,726,11439,2888,27190,27191,27187,10744,18094,27189,13712,358,8314,4534,1533,1809,1427,3153,1332,4683,4529,2874,23111,3143,4465,10520,2891,27181,2457,2902,27192,900,2780,1792,1847,3150,7690],"class_list":{"0":"post-54856","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-agence-france-presse","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-ankle-injuries","11":"tag-asia","12":"tag-barcelona","13":"tag-bayern-munich","14":"tag-bertrand-guay","15":"tag-brazilian-compatriot","16":"tag-brazilian-scored","17":"tag-champions-league","18":"tag-contract-dispute","19":"tag-contract-extension","20":"tag-cristiano-ronaldo-dos-santos-aveiro","21":"tag-europe","22":"tag-fantastic-fans","23":"tag-football-news","24":"tag-france","25":"tag-french-capital","26":"tag-french-champions","27":"tag-french-media","28":"tag-giant-club","29":"tag-indifferent-relationship","30":"tag-international-goal","31":"tag-international-players","32":"tag-jorge-jesus","33":"tag-karim-benzema","34":"tag-lionel-messi","35":"tag-luis-enrique","36":"tag-nasser-al-khelaifi","37":"tag-north-america","38":"tag-northern-america","39":"tag-northern-europe","40":"tag-paris","41":"tag-paris-saint-germain","42":"tag-province-of-barcelona","43":"tag-public-investment-fund","44":"tag-qatar","45":"tag-quality-players","46":"tag-real-madrid-c-f","47":"tag-saudi-arabia","48":"tag-scoring-goals","49":"tag-semi-final","50":"tag-semi-final-madness","51":"tag-southern-europe","52":"tag-spain","53":"tag-special-times","54":"tag-sweden","55":"tag-two-year-deal","56":"tag-united-states-of-america","57":"tag-western-asia","58":"tag-western-europe","59":"tag-world-record-fee"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}