Santos ready to offer Neymar ‘concrete project’ as club president talks up ‘connection’ with Brazil superstar amid Al-Hilal exit talk

The iconic Brazilian club are planning to offer the Al-Hilal star a grand project to lure him back to his homeland next year. There has been talk of Neymar exiting the Saudi Pro League club as early as January 2025 and if it actually happens, Santos are prepared to sign the 32-year-old by next summer.

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Neymar has had a nightmare journey with Al-Hilal since joining them from Paris Saint-Germain last summer. He picked up an ACL injury while on international duty last October which kept him on the sidelines for nearly a year. However, after staging a brief comeback last month, Neymar has suffered yet another injury setback which has ruled him out for the next four to six weeks.

  WHAT HAS BEEN SAID

  Santos president Marcelo Teixeira opened up on the Neymar situation as he told Estadao, per CNN Brazil: “We haven’t decided on the 2025 competitions yet. We can’t make hypothetical assumptions. If he cancels his contract, if he becomes free, we have a connection with his family and the athlete. We monitor, follow up, and have a concrete project that we’ve already discussed a few times. We’ll continue to monitor.

  “This is not the time for Santos to rush into anything. The need is to be in the Série A by 2025. Then, everything changes based on revenues and priorities, and ongoing projects. Today, making any hopes in this sense affects Santos and Brazilian football too much. We have to be careful and cautious.”

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  WHAT NEXT?

  Santos secured promotion back to the Brazilian Serie A on Monday, one year after their relegation to the second tier, and will receive a financial boost that could help them pay for Neymar next year. For now, though, the former Barcelona forward is hoping to fully recover from his latest injury and get some game time for Al-Hilal by the end of this year. After being left unregistered by the Saudi club in the first half of the 2024-25 campaign, it remains to be seen if they include Neymar in the squad for the second half.