Brazilian talisman Neymar and Saudi Arabian club Al Hilal have mutually agreed to terminate his contract, thus paving the way for the 32-year-old’s return to his boyhood club Santos.
The club made the announcement yesterday, thus bringing to an end Neymar’s injury-ridden stint in the Saudi Pro League. He joined Al Hilal in 2023, in a (reported) 90-million euro move from Paris St Germain, but could make only seven league and cup appearances, largely due to injuries—a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, and then a hamstring injury.
NEYMAR TO SANTOS IS HAPPENING! 🇧🇷pic.twitter.com/l5wDcReU8t
— Brasil Football 🇧🇷 (@BrasilEdition) January 27, 2025
His contract was due to end in June this year, and there were speculations that he might join his former Barcelona teammates Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez at Inter Miami. However, it has been reliably learnt that Neymar would not be part of the Major League Soccer, and will, instead, be moving to his boyhood Brazilian club Santos.
Neymar agrees to massive paycut to move to Santos: Reports
Neymar, who came through the youth ranks at Santos, began his professional career with the club in 2009, and scored 136 goals in 225 matches for them. He is likely to sign a six-month contract, with an option to extend it by a year.
The Brazilian star is said to have taken a massive paycut to facilitate the move from Al Hilal to Santos—reports suggest that he is foregoing USD 25-30 million from the $65 million remaining on his contract with the Saudi Arabian club. According to ESPN Brazil, he is set to sign a contract with Santos soon, and will be unveiled to the fans on Thursday or Friday.
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Santos won the Brazilian Serie B title in 2024 and were promoted to the Brazilian Serie A for the upcoming season.
Neymar, who has scored a record 79 goals for Brazil in 128 matches, said recently that the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be his last. He led his country to a gold at the 2016 Olympics.
