Forget Messi! Another Ronaldo rival linked with HUGE Saudi move

Tom Hancock

• 19 May 2023 10:31 BST
• 3 min read

The Saudi Pro League could gain another superstar this summer, after Neymar was linked with a surprise switch to Al-Hilal.

Earlier this month, PSG fans gathered outside Neymar’s house demanding that he leave the club – having already turned on Lionel Messi, who will depart as a free agent when his contract expires next month.

Messi himself has been linked with a move to Saudi Arabia, where his old Ballon d’Or rival Cristiano Ronaldo has been playing for Al-Nassr since January.

READ MORE: Won Arsenal the title? Piers Morgan has not watched Ronaldo at Al-Nassr

Neymar has two years left to run on his PSG contract and an Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) of €58.9m, but money would not appear to be much of an object for Al-Hilal – who Fichajes claim are weighing up an approach for Neymar.

Just this week, the record 18-time Saudi champions were said to have offered Messi over €400m a year in an attempt to lure Argentina’s World Cup-winning captain to the Middle East.

Such reports come as little surprise when one considers the impact Ronaldo – who joined Al-Nassr after leaving Manchester United in November – has had on Saudi Arabia’s top flight from a commercial point of view.

READ MORE: Verratti wants to quit PSG and join Messi at Barcelona

Time for Neymar to make a fresh start far away?

In some ways, it’s been another disappointing season for Neymar – with the Brazilian icon’s campaign ended by yet another injury in February.

The 31-year-old did score 19 goals in 28 appearances for PSG prior to being sidelined – but Brazil’s World Cup quarter-final exit to Croatia, by his own admission, “psychologically destroyed” him.

Perhaps, after a career spent in the often cruelly exposing limelight of elite European football, a major change of scenery might not be the worst thing.