SOCCER
Does Neymar Jr want to sign for Inter Miami or Santos?
The Brazilian icon has been in contact with both club’s presidents in the past week and is reportedly considering a move away from Al-Hilal.
Neymar Jr is still continuing his rehabilitation from a long-term knee injury suffered last October but the Brazilian is already being linked with moves away from Al-Hilal.
The 32-year-old signed for the Saudi Pro League side last summer for a €90 million transfer fee. He is reportedly receiving an annual salary of €150 million, six times what he was earning at Paris Saint-Germain. But despite that vast sum reports suggest that he could be tempted away from the club.
Brazilian publication UOL claims that Neymar, who visited boyhood club Santos over the weekend, told team members that he plans to join the team for the 2025 Brazilian season. Neymar met with the current Santos squad in the locker room ahead of their Campeonato Paulista victory over Palmeiras and reportedly confirmed his intention to return to the Urbano Caldeira next year.
Can Santos afford to sign Neymar?
In simple terms, Neymar would have to take an absolutely enormous pay cut to facilitate a move back to his first club. He was already one of the world’s best-paid players before leaving PSG but, now in Saudi Arabia, his earnings have increased further.
In 2023 Santos were relegated from the top flight of Brazilian soccer for the first time in their history, meaning that they currently play in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série B. That relegation has further hurt their spending power but club president Marcelo Teixeira has insisted that talks between Santos and Neymar are progressing well.
“The conversation [with Neymar] was very quick, but it’s always quick conversations that have good effect,” Teixeira explained. “To come back and play here, he needs to recover well from injury. He will continue his experience in Saudi Arabia and then come back here.”
Inter Miami option appears unlikely for Neymar
Last week photographs of Neymar hanging out with Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham sparked talk that he could soon be joining his former teammates in MLS. Neymar starred alongside Lionel Messi, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez at Barcelona, winning the Champions League as part of the famous ‘MSN’ strike-force.
Miami have shown an incredible ability to bring in big-name signings, despite the league’s stringent cost-control regulations, but could they really add Neymar to their star-studded squad?
With the off-season arrivals of Suarez and MLS Cup winner Julian Gressel the Herons pushed their budget to the absolute limit, only narrowly managing to get their financial situation in order ahead of the 2024 season. Miami sold former captain DeAndre Yedlin and 2021 MVP Gregore in order to make space in their salary cap.
Miami’s three current Designated Players are Messi, Busquets and striker Leonardo Campana. They will be reluctant to part with either of the first two, assuming that there are no long-term fitness concerns, and 24-year-old Campana is a key player for the team’s future. As it stands it’s very unlikely that Inter Miami could bring in Neymar, and perhaps even less likely that Tata Martino would want to add another expensive, aging superstar to his rather lop-sided squad.