Ruben Neves, a Portuguese midfielder who plays for Wolverhampton Wanderers of the Premier League, will be moving to Al Hilal on a three-year agreement, according to an announcement made by the Saudi Arabian club on Friday.
Although Wolves would not divulge precise financial specifics, the club did say that Neves was transferring for a club record price, which was rumored to be about sixty million dollars (or 55 million euros). Neves signed his contract in Paris.
“No other player has made such an impact on the pitch in gold and black during the last six years,” Wolves claimed in a statement. “Having featured more than 250 times in a remarkable period in the club’s history,” the statement said, “No other player has made such an impact on the pitch in gold and black during the last six years.”
After playing for Wanderers in 253 games in all competitions, the 26-year-old scored 30 goals for the club.
When Neves joined Wolves in 2017, they were playing in the Championship’s lower division. In his first season with the team, he helped them win promotion to the Premier League. His previous affiliation was with the Portuguese club Porto.
In their first season back in the Premier League, Wolves finished in seventh place, which allowed them to qualify for the Europa League.
“What an incredible trip. An emotional goodbye video showed a teary-eyed Neves saying, “A big thank you to every single person I had the chance to work with, every single moment was unforgettable.”
“You are friends for life with every single player that has ever been a member of this club over the course of the last six years. The method in which we ensured the safety of the pack was quite remarkable.
“I’m going to miss playing, but I’ll always be a wolf at heart.” Whatever the case may be. I want to express my gratitude for everything, and I hope to see you at the South Bank stadium someday.
The former Wolves captain’s current contract has one more year to go, but there was speculation that he may be moving to Barcelona for the next campaign.
During the last several weeks, rumors have circulated that some prominent players may be moving to Saudi Arabia. Lionel Messi, a fantastic player from Argentina, was also a target of Al Hilal’s recruitment efforts; nevertheless, the player finally chose to sign with the Major League Soccer club Inter Miami.
Neves, who has won 40 caps for Portugal’s national team, will compete in the Saudi league with fellow countryman Cristiano Ronaldo, who moved to Al Nassr in the month of December.
In the beginning of this month, League Champions Al Ittihad made the announcement that they had recruited Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema. In the beginning of this week, the club revealed that they had also signed former Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kante.
Al Hilal is the most decorated club in Saudi Arabia and Asia, having won 66 trophies and holding the record for the most league championships (18) and Asian Champions titles (4) respectively. Al Hilal is also the most successful club in Asia.
After failing to defend their titles in both the league and the Champions League, the Riyadh-based club has made it a top priority to strengthen their roster. There is speculation in the Spanish media that they are also interested in defender Kalidou Koulibaly of Chelsea and midfielder Bernardo Silva of Manchester City.