(Paris) After six years of a very eventful marriage with PSG, Neymar put an end to his Parisian adventure by going to Al-Hilal, which gives him a golden bridge to join other stars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema or Sadio Mané in the wealthy Saudi championship.
The announcement of the transfer was made on video by the Saudi club on the social network X, formerly Twitter. “I’m here in Saudi Arabia, I’m from Al-Hilal,” the 31-year-old Brazilian said in English, wearing his new club’s blue jersey.
“It is always difficult to say goodbye to such an exceptional player as Neymar, one of the best in the world,” said PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaïfi in a statement released by the club. capital city.
Arrived as a rock star in 2017 from FC Barcelona for the record sum of 220 million euros, the Brazilian N.10 (31) had nevertheless become undesirable in Paris over seasons marked by a litany of injuries and escapades extra-sports.
Pushed towards the exit, he accepted the golden proposal from Saudi Arabia where Al-Hilal would have offered him a salary of “100 million euros per season”, according to a source familiar with the negotiations.
The club announced that the contract was for two seasons.
For its part, PSG is far from recovering its bet, but it will still pocket nearly 100 million euros as well, according to the same source, which will allow it to continue its transfer window.
Neymar’s situation cannot be completely dissociated from that of Kylian Mbappé, who had made the Brazilian’s departure one of the conditions for the renewal of his contract in 2022. The announcement of his signing in Saudi Arabia comes at the very moment when the champion World Cup 2018 has begun a reconciliation with PSG after a severe contractual showdown.
In sporting terms, the Neymar period is a huge mess. Bruised by the “remontada” against Barça in the knockout stages of the Champions League in 2017, PSG and Qatar thought they had struck a blow by offering themselves in quick succession the summer following the prodigy of the seleçao and Kylian Mbappe.
But the former Santos player, who had formed the famous MSN in Catalonia with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez and won the C1 in 2015, only intermittently met the expectations of his leaders.
With 118 goals and 70 assists in 173 games in all competitions, his record is far from paltry, but he failed to take PSG to the top in the Champions League, Bayern Munich having shattered their dreams in final in 2020.
It’s as if the transplant had never really caught on between the Brazilian with extraordinary talent and the Parisian public. From 2019, barely two years after his arrival, Neymar had wanted to leave the capital to return to FC Barcelona, but the leaders of PSG had vetoed before extending his contract until 2027.
The situation changed last year with Mbappé’s rise to prominence at the club and the appointment of Luis Campos as “football adviser”. PSG therefore opened the door to a departure, which could not materialize due to the player’s exorbitant salary, estimated at 30 million euros gross per year.
The Brazilian’s new ankle injury and then the operation suffered last March only reinforced Paris in its desire to part with the striker, despite an excellent first part of the 2022-2023 season.
After a lackluster financial year barely saved by obtaining an 11th league title, PSG is also determined to regenerate its workforce as evidenced by the case of Marco Verratti, history of the Qatari era and close to being sold .
Neymar also got used to the idea of a transfer after being the target of Parisian ultras, some of whom went to demonstrate in front of his home in Bougival in May. An episode that deeply shocked him and definitively recorded his divorce from PSG.
Neymar had several careers at Paris SG: decisive, fragile, rebellious, sometimes happy, sometimes hated, the Brazilian striker took time to integrate into the capital’s club, which he left for the Saudi team of Al – Hilal.
PSG presents its new jewel, bought for the record sum of 222 m EUR from FC Barcelona on August 14, 2017 in Guingamp. With a goal and an assist, Neymar is already shining.
“I feel like home. Not all of my teammates are Brazilians, but they all make me feel comfortable, I feel like I’ve been here for a long time already, “says the new L1 attraction.
The “penaltygate” which opposes him to Edinson Cavani at the start of the season, to know which of them was going to take the penalties, resonates like a first hiccup in his Parisian career.
But that’s nothing compared to the “crac” heard on February 25, 2018, during a Coupe de France match against Marseille: “Ney” injured his right foot, crack of the fifth metatarsal. The announcement of a failed season with elimination in the knockout stages of the Champions League against Real Madrid, and the start of a long series of injuries for the Brazilian striker.
On January 23, 2019, Neymar replayed the bad film of his injury: a series of shocks with Strasbourg Moataz Zemzemi, in the Coupe de France, awakened his pain in his right foot.
Verdict: three months of absence and hell for his team. PSG suffered a new humiliation in the round of 16 of C1, against Manchester United (2-0, 1-3).
Back in Paris, after having been seen at the carnival in Salvador and then in Rio, he attended this elimination in the stands on March 6.
He snaps and insults the referees on social media: “It’s a shame! They put four guys who don’t understand football to review the slow motion […] Fuck them”.
Back on the pitch at the end of April, he expressed his anger by kicking a spectator who was chastising him after the defeat in the Coupe de France final against Rennes.
“It’s not possible to do that”, plague his trainer Thomas Tuchel the day after this gesture of humor. “Coward”, “rebellious teenager”: Neymar is not spared by the Brazilian press either.
He will receive a three-game suspension each time (in C1, suspension reduced to 2 games on appeal).
Neymar feels better and better in the capital. His 2019-20 season is his best, despite the Championship being terminated prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He won with PSG the four national trophies, before the “Final 8” of the Champions League. In Lisbon, rid of his physical worries and with a big smile on his face, he allowed the club to reach the first C1 final in its history.
His complicity with Kylian Mbappé is obvious, but neither he nor “Kyky” will score in Portugal. In the final, Bayern made them pay for their lack of realism (1-0), and “Ney” left the lawn on the verge of tears.
He took his revenge against Bayern less than a year later, in the quarter-finals. On the way to Germany, in the snow, he managed two assists (3-2 victory).
It was on the return, on April 13 at the Park, that he would shine the most, despite the defeat (1-0). Faced with Manuel Neuer, he finds three times the amounts, but his influence is enormous.
In the semi-finals against Manchester City, the Brazilian is disappointing. Four days after the return, lost 2-0, he extended his contract until 2025 with PSG.
Author of a decisive heel for Mbappé in the first leg against Real Madrid in the round of 16 of the Champions League (1-0 victory for PSG), Neymar did it again in the return match with a caviar for “Kyky”.
Alas: like his team, “Ney” collapsed in the second half, one of his ball losses giving Benzema one of his three goals, for a new PSG fiasco in C1. The Spanish media even mention a fight between the striker and his goalkeeper Donnarumma, which the Brazilian denies on his social networks.
Author of a flamboyant start to the season with PSG, Neymar experienced a new failure with Brazil, eliminated in the quarter of the World Cup-2022. His momentum was halted by yet another ankle injury in March. Forfeited for the rest of the season, he becomes the target of ultra Parisians, in conflict with management over the future of the club.
“Neymar, fuck off! sing several dozen supporters dressed in black, gathered in front of the player’s home in Bougival, in the Paris region. Three months later, the Brazilian signs in Saudi Arabia.
