Saudis target Neymar after Messi failure

Tom Hancock

• Updated: 11 Jun 2023 21:40 BST
• 3 min read

Saudi giants Al-Hilal are plotting a summer swoop for Neymar, having failed in their bid to lure Lionel Messi to the Gulf.

PSG would reportedly seriously consider selling Neymar, as Messi departs the French champions as a free agent following the expiry of his contract – before joining MLS outfit Inter Miami.

There appears to be an increasingly concerted push to attract big European stars to the Saudi Pro League – where Karim Benzema recently agreed a deal to join champions Al-Ittihad, after Cristiano Ronaldo signed for Al-Nassr back in January.

MORE: FIVE reasons Barcelona won't consider Neymar

According to Ben Jacobs of CBS Sports, an Al-Hilal delegation travelled to Paris on Friday and there has been contact with Neymar – albeit not yet PSG.

The Brazilian star, 31, still has another two years left to run on his contract at the Parc des Princes – meaning Les Parisiens could reasonably demand a fairly sizeable fee.

Neymar – whose €222m move from Barcelona to PSG in 2017 remains the most expensive transfer of all time – is currently valued by our in-house Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) model at €56.6m.

MORE: How Barcelona still have a chance to sign Lionel Messi

Where next for Neymar?

Should Neymar leave PSG, it will mark the end of an era for the Ligue 1 giants – but it wouldn’t exactly come as a huge surprise.

Only last month, fans gathered outside Neymar’s house, furiously demanding that he depart the club for whom he has scored 118 goals in 173 appearances but has seen his spell frequently disrupted by injury.

It has also been speculated that Neymar could make a headline switch to the Premier League – indeed, Chelsea have been strongly linked as they look to push on under new boss Mauricio Pochettino – but Barcelona do not intend to re-sign the forward.