Neymar was “in talks” on Sunday to become the latest football hero to move to Saudi Arabia. He would leave Paris Saint-Germain at the same time that Kylian Mbappe was brought back into the team after being sent out to the cold.
A source close to PSG told AFP that Neymar, who is 31 years old, “no longer figures in the club’s or manager’s plans.” The Brazilian was quickly linked to the Gulf kingdom club Al-Hilal.
Another person in Saudi Arabia said that “direct negotiations” were going on between Neymar’s managers and the Public Investment Fund (PIF).
“If we can make a deal with him in the next few hours, we’d start talking with PSG right away. “If a deal is made, he would play for Al-Hilal,” the person said.
Neymar moved to PSG from Barcelona in 2017 for a record 220 million euros ($241 million). On Sunday, some news outlets said that Al-Hilal would give around $80 million for the Brazilian player.
Al-Hilal made an offer of 300 million euros for Mbappe last month, but the star allegedly refused to meet with team officials.
Neymar had surgery on his right ankle in early March, and he didn’t get back in time to join PSG on their pre-season tour of Asia until he was fully healed.
He’s been hurt a lot during his time at PSG, which has been a problem.
Even though he helped the team get to the Champions League final in 2020, he has been left out of many important games.
If Neymar does move to Saudi Arabia, he will join a growing list of top players who have moved there since Cristiano Ronaldo went to Al-Nassr in January.
Al-Hilal has always been one of the best teams in Saudi Arabia, and they have won the Asian Champions League four times.
The Al-Hilal group
Jorge Jesus, a Portuguese man, is their coach, and this is his second time at the club. They have recently brought in four foreign players from Europe: Ruben Neves, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Kalidou Koulibaly, and Malcom, who is also from Brazil like Neymar.
Neymar is expected to leave PSG, just like Lionel Messi did. Messi now plays for Inter Miami in the United States.
The Saudis are becoming more important in the world of football. On Sunday, it was said that Roberto Mancini was in line to become the manager of the Saudi national team after he suddenly quit as the manager of the European winners Italy.
Champion PSG has had a rough start to the new Ligue 1 season. Both Mbappe and Neymar were left off of new coach Luis Enrique’s team for Saturday’s disappointing 0-0 draw with Lorient.
After sitting out for a few weeks because of a contract disagreement, Mbappe watched the game from the stands at Parc des Princes.
But the club’s best player is now back with the team, at least for now, PSG said on Sunday.
PSG said in a statement, “After very constructive and positive talks between Paris Saint-Germain and Kylian Mbappe before the PSG-Lorient match, the player was back in first team training this morning.”
Mbappe dispute
After a summer of change at the Parc des Princes, with new players joining, questions about Neymar’s future, and Messi leaving, the Mbappe standoff was the biggest story.
The leader of France has refused to sign a contract extension with PSG, which means he can leave for free next year. Real Madrid has been thought to be his top choice for a long time.
Qatari-owned PSG wants to sell him now and get a lot of money for a player they bought from Monaco for 180 million euros in 2017.
“It’s very clear where we stand. Kylian must sign a new deal if he wants to stay. We can’t just let the best player in the world go away. Nasser al-Khelaifi, the head of PSG, said last month that it was impossible.
Mbappe wasn’t allowed to train with the first team and only played in one of PSG’s five warm-up games. He also wasn’t asked to the pre-season tour to Japan and South Korea.
He sat next to fellow 2018 World Cup winner Ousmane Dembele, whose move from Barcelona was finalized earlier Saturday. Dembele was one of six players who made their starts against Lorient.