Bankrolled by a $620 billion Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia has drawn football’s biggest talents.
Brazillian superstar Neymar has agreed to leave Paris Saint-Germain and join Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal on a two-year deal.
The football international is undergoing his medical today and is expected to complete his move in the next 48 hours.
“After new huge bid revealed two days ago, documents are now approved by all parties involved,”Italian sports journalist Fabrizio Romano wrote on Twitter.
According to Sky Sports News reporter Kaveh Solhekol, Neymar will earn £129.4m a year in Saudi Arabia.
After spending the past six seasons with PSG, reports earlier this month suggested Neymar informed the Ligue 1 Champions that he wants to leave the club this summer and said he prefers to return to Barcelona.
After a troubling season of injuries and a public feud with teammate Kylian Mbappe, the 31-year-old will now instead compete in a rebranded Saudi league.
Despite an inconsistent career at PSG, Neymar has won five Ligue 1 titles and 13 domestic honours in total, as well as finishing runner-up in the 2020 Champions League final.
Earlier the week, reports surfaced that Al Hilal was close to completing a deal with Neymar primarily after the star was left out of PSG’s squad for their opening Ligue 1 season fixture.
At Al-Hilal, Neymar will join the pitch alongside the talents of newly signed stars Kalidou Koulibaly, Ruben Neves, and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.
Al Hilal is the most decorated club in Asia and has achieved several feats since its founding in 1957. So far, the club has won 66 official trophies.
Locally, the club has gained a record of 18 Professional League titles, 13 Crown Prince Cup titles, seven Saudi Federation Cup titles, ten King Cup titles, a record three Super Cup titles, and the Saudi Founder’s Cup.
On the international pitch, Al Hilal has won a record eight Asian Football Confederation trophies and was also anointed the Best Asian Club of the 20th Century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics.
