Neymar will earn £129.4m a year in Saudi; PSG will receive £86.3m for the Brazilian - having paid £200m for him in 2017; move continues turbulent summer in Paris, with Lionel Messi leaving for Inter Miami and the high-profile stand-off with Kylian Mbappe
Tuesday 15 August 2023 07:04, UK
Saudi Arabian club Al Hilal have agreed a deal with Paris Saint-Germain to sign Neymar.
The Brazil international, who is set to sign a two-year deal, is undergoing his medical today and is expected to complete his move in the next 48 hours.
Sources close to PSG, who have been open to selling Neymar for the past three windows, say the club are set to receive up to £86.3m for a player that cost them a world-record £200m from Barcelona in 2017.
At 31, Neymar is not considered a key player by new PSG head coach Luis Enrique and have been open to selling the forward in order to focus on forming a younger, hungrier team.
According to Sky Sports News' Kaveh Solhekol, Neymar will earn £129.4m a year in Saudi Arabia - six times the amount he was on at PSG.
Al Hilal have also tried to sign Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe this summer.
However, Messi opted to join Inter Miami, while Mbappe is set to stay at PSG.
The France captain was frozen out by the club after refusing to sign a new contract, meaning he could leave for free at the end of the season.
Mbappe insisted he would not leave PSG this summer, despite their desire to sell him, but he has now returned to first-team training after apparently indicating his commitment to the club.
PSG accepted a world-record £258m bid from Al Hilal last month but Mbappe rejected the one-year move to Saudi Arabia.
Sky Sports' Kaveh Solhekol:
PSG see this as the end of their 'Galactico' era. Messi and Neymar are now gone and Mbappe has been brought into line.
Neymar is a great player and loved by many fans for what he can do on the pitch but there were also a lot of injuries and countless off-field distractions.
It was always likely that Neymar would move this summer, especially after the PSG Ultras demonstrated outside his family home in May.
Selling Neymar is another sign that PSG are focused on FFP - through raising revenues and reducing costs.
Replacement signings have all been younger, hungrier and on less generous contracts.
PSG want to be a sustainable club with a core of French players. They want to develop players rather than just sign ready-made stars. The average age of half the squad is now under 23.
Ultimately, Neymar will always be remembered as one of PSG's best ever players, but he never really fulfilled his potential in Paris - with too many injuries and no Champions League title.
In a special podcast on the Saudi Pro League, Sky Sports News chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol talks to Peter Smith about why there has suddenly been big spending from clubs in Saudi Arabia on European-based players, what the league must do to attract elite players, and what the big salaries on offer in the Middle East mean for clubs and players in the Premier League.
