After a tumultuous time at Al-Hilal, Neymar and the Saudi Pro League team came to an amicable agreement to end his contract.
Neymar is expected to return to his boyhood club on a free transfer, signing a short-term contract that will expire in the summer of 2025, after leaving Santos in 2013 for a stint at Barcelona.
But given that the 32-year-old left Saudi Arabia less than 18 months after making his well-publicized move, it is impossible to avoid the question: was Neymar’s move to Al-Hilal the worst in football history? Though opinions differ, the evidence tends to support that view.
The most costly transfer in football history is still his historic €220 million move from Barcelona to PSG in 2017. However, in August 2023, the Brazilian made yet another big move, leaving the French powerhouses for Al-Hilal in a transaction worth an estimated €90 million.
At first, it looked like Al-Hilal would have to pay €390 million for Neymar’s services under the two-year contract, which is supposedly worth €150 million annually. Even though he left six months ahead of schedule, the forward has earned about €225 million for himself, not including the high transfer fee.
Sadio Mane, Karim Benzema, and Cristiano Ronaldo are among the other famous players who have recently made headlines with hefty contracts in Saudi Arabia. But what makes Neymar’s transfer stand out as perhaps the worst?
Surprisingly, despite earning enormous salaries while in the Middle East, Neymar only appeared in seven games for Al-Hilal. He only managed 428 minutes on the field during six games, with one goal and three assists.
To put things in perspective, Neymar received an incredible €525,700 for each minute he played for the team. Al-Hilal paid about €12,857,142 per appearance for the transfer itself, which was a substantial outlay of funds for such little production.
His playing career was severely limited by injuries, most notably an ACL injury sustained in October 2023 while on international duty that kept him out of action for a full year. He returned in October 2024, but was sidelined for a few more months due to a hamstring injury.
Adding to the chaos, Neymar’s pre-contract termination was discussed by Al-Hilal’s manager Jorge Jesus, who disclosed that he was not registered for the second half of the 2024–2025 season and said: “Neymar can no longer perform at the level we are accustomed to.” Unfortunately, things have grown challenging for him.
Neymar’s move to Al-Hilal stands out as maybe the most difficult transfer in recent memory, even though other well-known signings, such as those of Philippe Coutinho, Romelu Lukaku, and Antony, have had their own difficulties.