Al-Hilal Will Announce Neymar Signing Next Week: Saudi Reports

Al-Hilal are set to announce the signing of a globally-famous star that “will be the talk of the world” next week according to a popular Saudi Arabian journalist, who added that the identity of the player would become clear by the mere mention of his nationality alone.

With beIN Sports’ Khaled Waleed also tweeting that this is the same individual with whom FC Barcelona are reportedly interested in capturing, it has been suggested that the player in question is Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar.

Saudi journalist Ahmed Al-Ajlan, who has close to 600,000 followers on Twitter, reported the news on Saturday while making an appearance on pan-Arab channel MBC 1.

The channel is part of the MBC Group which has headquarters in London, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, and boasts an estimated global audience of more than 130 million people worldwide.

Al-Ajlan explained that according to his information, Al-Hilal will sign a player “who will be the bomb of the season and the talk of the world”.

He also detailed how the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which recently took control of Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad and Al-Alhi, “will provide each of the four clubs with three star players”.

After Al-Ajlan’s report emerged, beIN Sports’ Khaled Waleed tweeted that Al-Hilal’s negotiations “are with the same player that Barcelona wants”, which has led some to conclude that the player is Neymar.

This summer, Waleed was one of the first to report on Barca president Joan Laporta’s trip to Qatar where beIN Sports are based and PSG’s owners hail from, in addition to providing updates on the Blaugrana’s rumored pursuit of Neymar.

Al-Ajlan’s description of a globally-renowned star who we would immediately guess by knowing his nationality points to the Brazilian too.

With Lionel Messi set to join Inter Miami after snubbing both Barca and Al-Hilal, we can automatically rule out the Argentine.

Kylian Mbappe wouldn’t head to the Saudi Pro League now either at 24 years of age, and while Cristiano Ronaldo is already there at Al-Nassr, we know neither player has even remotely been linked to talks with the La Liga champions.

Not long after Messi turned down a huge offer from Al-Hilal, CBS Sports reported that a delegation from the club had flown to Paris to sound out a potential move for Neymar.

PSG have been reported by L’Equipe as looking to sell the player they smashed the world transfer record for when they activated his €222 million ($242.8 million) FC Barcelona release clause in 2017.

According to CBS Sports, personal terms set to be offered to Neymar would “be comparable to those of Ronaldo, whose total package is believed to be around €200 million ($217 million) a year”. Furthermore, they would help the Brazilian rival Ronaldo for the top spot on Forbes’ list of the World’s Highest-Paid Athletes.

RMC Sports subsequently reported that Neymar wasn’t interested in a Saudi switch, but this doesn’t mean that Al-Hilal haven’t managed to turn his head in the fortnight since.

Now it remains to be seen if Al-Ajlan’s report was accurate, and if so, whether those who suspected that Al-Hilal’s incoming star really is Brazil’s all-time top scorer were correct.