Wolves midfielder Ruben Neves has chosen to join Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal, an official statement from the English side has confirmed.
The statement read: “After six seasons at Molineux, Ruben Neves’ time with Wolves has come to an end, as he joins Saudi Pro League’s Al-Hilal on a permanent deal for a club record transfer fee.“
The Portuguese, only 26, was heavily linked with a move to Newcastle United but in the end, he has chosen to move to the Middle East and this decision has left a lot of pundits and experts rather perplexed.
The Saudi league has gotten a fair bit of attention since Ronaldo moved there earlier this season but till now, European players who are at the end of their professional careers had been moving to the Middle East. Notably, Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kante have just moved there as free agents.
So what made a 26-year-old Premier League star who’s made more than 250 appearances for Wolves, not want to keep playing in Europe?
Firstly, let’s get it out of the way that Wolves have gotten a fantastic deal from this transfer because Ruben Neves was going to be a free agent next summer and no major European club would have paid £47 million for him.
Eddie Howe’s team is backed by Saudi’s Public Investment Fund and they are pacing themselves to be a big name in Europe in the next four to five years. Newcastle United have also qualified for the Champions League which is why many people thought Neves will choose a move to St James’ Park but it looks like a massive pay package has been enough to lure him to the Middle East.
At Wolves, he was earning £50,000 a week but according to the reports, the midfielder will pocket a whopping £300,000 a week at Al-Hilal at that too, tax-free.
This means at the wage of 26, Ruben Neves will be earning around £15.5 million per year which is not bad at all.
The likes of Benzema and Kante are going to earn a hell lot more in the Pro League but truth be told, if he had joined Newcastle then maybe Neves could have gotten similar salaries. However, the level of competition in the Saudi Pro League is almost non-existent so performance pressure won’t be a bother for the midfielder.
In England especially, you are always under the scanner and each performance of yours is massively scrutinised. The English media is famous for being ruthless and if Neves would have joined a buoyant Newcastle side, things would have been doubly hard for him.
He has signed a three-year deal with Al-Hilal which means he can earn handsomely for three seasons and then maybe return to Europe and play for another good three or four seasons.
Ruben Neves might not be the only player to move to the Pro League this season because the likes of Koulibaly, Hakim Ziyech and Riyad Mahrez have also been attracting interest from Saudi Arabia.
In the past, several players have openly talked about the importance of good wages and financial stability so it’s no secret that more and more young players are now willing to move away from Europe in the hopes of earning better salaries.
Even a few years ago, MLS was the only realistic destination(out of Europe) where a professional footballer could end up but due to the Beckham Rule, there was a limitation on how much they could earn in America.
China for a few years tried to attract big names by paying unrealistic sums of money but their project did not take off. Now, the Saudi Pro League seems to have come as a breath of fresh air for those who want to earn money without shouldering the burden of the expectations of the fans.
Ruben Neves has clearly made a very practical decision by joining Al-Hilal and it won’t be a big surprise if a few other big names move to Saudi Arabia in the coming few months.
