The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2023–2025
Al Hilal's record Neymar bet ended after seven matches in 17 months
Al Hilal paid PSG a league-record €90m fee and $100m a year for Neymar; injuries left him seven matches and the contract terminated in January 2025.
Al Hilal FC · 2025-01-28
What happened
In August 2023 Al Hilal made Neymar the most expensive signing in Saudi Pro League history: a reported €90m ($98m) transfer fee to Paris Saint-Germain, plus a two-year contract reported to pay the then-31-year-old about $100m a year. He was the centrepiece of the league's high-spending push to buy European stardom.
The bet collapsed within two months. Neymar played five games for Al Hilal, scored once in the AFC Champions League, then ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament playing for Brazil in October 2023 and missed the rest of the season. He returned in October 2024, hurt his hamstring, and was sidelined again; coach Jorge Jesus said he could no longer perform at the level the club was used to.
On 27 January 2025 Al Hilal announced that it had agreed with Neymar to terminate the contract by mutual consent — after 17 months in which he had played just seven matches and scored once. In a farewell video Neymar told teammates: 'It was a short time, things were not as I expected. I could not help you on the pitch as I wanted.'
Neymar agreed to return to his boyhood club Santos, which had just won promotion back to Brazil's top flight. Al Hilal walked away from what remained of a deal it had paid a record fee to build.
Why it happened
- The club bet a record fee and a $100m-a-year salary on a 31-year-old whose fitness record was the open secret of his career — the ACL tear followed a pattern that had shortened his PSG years.
- The structure made the failure expensive twice over: the fee set a league record, and the salary made every match he missed cost more than the last.
- Seventeen months, seven matches, one goal: the marquee signing was on the pitch for roughly one match per two months, and the club's own coach was publicly questioning his level by the end.
- The exit was quiet because there was nothing to fight over — by mutual consent, Al Hilal cut its losses and Neymar went home.
The lesson
Al Hilal paid a league-record €90m fee and a reported $100m a year for a 31-year-old whose fitness record was fragile; 17 months and seven matches later, the contract terminated by mutual consent.
Aftermath
Neymar returned to Santos in late January 2025, after Al Hilal agreed to terminate his contract by mutual consent. The club had paid PSG a reported €90m ($98m) fee — a Saudi Pro League record — plus a $100m-a-year salary on a two-year deal. Neymar played seven matches and scored once in 17 months, losing most of the time to an ACL rupture playing for Brazil in October 2023 and a hamstring injury in late 2024. In a farewell video he said: 'It was a short time, things were not as I expected.' Santos had been relegated to Brazil's second division in 2023 and won promotion back for his return.
Sources
- Al Hilal and Neymar agree to terminate contract by mutual consent — Al Hilal FC official statement, 28 January 2025
- Neymar leaves Saudi league, Al-Hilal agrees to terminate contract — AP News, 28 January 2025
- Brazil's Neymar signs for Saudi football club Al Hilal — Al Jazeera, 15 August 2023
spotted an error? The club wants to know.
More like this
Chelsea sacked Mutu for a positive test, then fought five years to claw the fee back
Ateş Denizi fired its lead after a narcotics raid on set — and reshot every scene
A Cupshe staffer emailed 'we would not collab with black people' — hired four days earlier
Somewhere, someone solved the problem this company failed at. 2nd Opinion →
Comments · 0
Sign in to join the comments.