14/08/2023 and las 04:40 CEST
The soap opera Neymar Jr. has finished a new season with a final chapter with suspense until the last second. And, in the end, the Brazilian star will not end up stopping this season at Barça, where he would have arrived on loan. ‘Ney’ has committed himself for two seasons with Al-Hilal, from Saudi Arabia, in the largest operation in the history of football outside the European continent: PSG, between fixed and variable, will end up pocketing 100 million euros and the Brazilian ’10’ will receive an astronomical token, 320 million euros for two seasons.
The transaction was closed this last morning in Paris after a summit that lasted for many hours and was not without tension and script changes. Neymar Jr. kept his word and, as he has been able to confirm SPORT, He pushed until the end to be able to dress as a blaugrana again for a season… but he didn’t make it.
Al-Hilal changed its initial position and closed in band in the last hours, as indicated by one of the sources of the negotiation to SPORT, imaking it possible for his new player to go to Barcelona for the first season.
In counterpart, Neymar He demanded a substantial salary increase (which he has achieved) and reduced his contract years, which, in principle, was aimed at four seasons, or three years plus one more optional, ended up being two, until 2025.
Barça, who worked very discreetly in recent months to be able to have Neymar during the season that the first team will have to play at the Montjuïc stadium, narrowly missed their goal.
The presence of ‘Ney’ It meant an injection of income and put the club back on the front line of the global media. And, of course, sportingly, it was expected to have the best version of the Brazilian, at 31, since the footballer had strongly asked to return to Barcelona. He wanted to reconcile with football over the course of a year in a club and a city he knowswith a coach like Xavi Hernandez who was his locker room partner, and, later, in June 2024, being able to face the Copa América in the United States at a high point of form.
Neymar reached a salary agreement with Barça. He was willing to collect 12 ‘kilos’ of tab. The most complicated part remained, however, for PSG (that is, the Emirate of Qatar) to accept the sale of one of its stars to a club in Saudi Arabia (a country with which it has certain political and diplomatic tensions), in this the case of Al-Hilal, and that the entity based in Riyadh, give the go-ahead to the assignment.
The departure of Neymar from Paris was sung because neither party wanted to continue with the contract that was in force until 2027. This yes, the PSG demanded, like minimum, 100 ‘kilos’ of traspaso, that is the amount that will finish entering with all the variables of obligatory fulfillment.
Just as it happened in the summer of 2019, the possibility of the Brazilian crack living a second stage at Barça vanished. On that occasion, it was PSG himself, who has now facilitated his departure, who refused to sell him to Barça, and now that everything was even more convoluted because Barça was a secondary actor that depended on third parties, there has not been any the transfer of the buying club.
GOODBYE TO PARIS THROUGH THE BACK DOOR
Neymar Jr. puts an end to a period of six seasons at PSG, where he has not achieved any of the great collective and individual objectives that he had set for himself: winning the first Champions League in the history of the Parisian club (something that Manchester City, which is the other great State Club of the Old Continent, has achieved) and being named the best player on the planet.
This Monday, the ’10’ is scheduled to pass his medical examination in Paris, before signing his new contract for the most popular club in Saudi Arabia. And, in principle, if there is no unforeseen change, it will be presented on Wednesday at a mega event in Riyadh.
At Al-Hilal, he will be led by the charismatic Portuguese coach, Jorge Jesus, and will have possibly the best team in emerging Saudi football at his side. Since his new team is the one who has made the most contracts. He has invested 180 million euros to be able to count on Ruben Neves (which was on Barça’s agenda), the ex-Blaugrana Malcomwho played for Zenit, the central Koulibaly y Milinkovic-Savic.
2023-08-14 02:40:46
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