The insane numbers behind Neymar Junior's eye-watering 18-month spell in Saudi Arabia
01/28/2025 09:02 AM
Former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar Junior is now a free agent after reaching an agreement to terminate his contract with Al-Hilal after just 18 months. His time in Saudi Arabia proved to be perhaps the most costly in football history in terms of a pay to play basis.
Neymar is expected to return to first club Santos in the coming days, having agreed to end his deal at Al-Hilal six months early. Shortly after making his debut for the Saudi giants, Neymar suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury on Brazil duty. His recovery took over a year, and when he returned, he was not registered by Al-Hilal for the Saudi Pro League. It meant that over the period of his entire spell, Neymar played just 7 matches, scoring once and providing 3 assists. The Saudi fans saw him for a total of just 428 minutes.
The initial move from PSG cost Al-Hilal €90m in a transfer fee, in addition to a €100m per year salary for the Brazilian. Marca say that his two-year deal was worth €200m, but including commercial opportunities that came with the contract, Neymar was also able to earn an extra €163m on top of that. It is not yet clear how much of that additional income he did bring in.
The agreement to terminate his deal cost Al-Hilal a further €62m in a severance package too. Taking into account the €150m earned over the course of his 18 months in salary, his transfer fee and the severance package, the Neymar deal cost Saudi Arabia €302m in total – without taking into account any of the additional €163m he might have earned on top of it.
The offer Al-Ittihad officially sent to Barcelona for Unai Hernández this morning is 4.5 million euros fixed + half a million in targets for minutes and titles. Negotiations are moving forward. The deal will not be finalised today, but there is optimism on both sides that the…
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) January 27, 2025
Those numbers break down to a minimum of €43m per appearance for Neymar, and €705k per minute of action for his skills. Divided between his goal contributions, that figure evens out as an eye-watering €75.5m for his assists and goals.
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