{"id":68020,"date":"2023-08-16T07:00:41","date_gmt":"2023-08-16T04:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kfm.co.ug\/?p=68020"},"modified":"2023-08-16T08:14:28","modified_gmt":"2023-08-16T05:14:28","slug":"neymar-ends-turbulent-psg-stay-six-years-after-record-fee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/neymar-ends-turbulent-psg-stay-six-years-after-record-fee\/","title":{"rendered":"Neymar ends turbulent PSG stay, six years after record fee"},"content":{"rendered":"

By AFP<\/strong><\/p>\n

Neymar brought an end to a topsy-turvy spell at Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday by leaving for Saudi club Al Hilal, six years after great fanfare greeted his arrival in the French capital.<\/p>\n

The Brazilian was afforded a rock star’s welcome in Paris when he signed from Barcelona for a world-record fee of 222 million euros ($242 million), but left just months after PSG fans protested outside his house, demanding his exit from the club.<\/p>\n

PSG hoped Neymar would help deliver a coveted maiden Champions League title when he joined in 2017, but the closest he came was a 2020 final defeat by Bayern Munich.<\/p>\n

Several injuries plagued his time in Paris, with PSG seemingly happy to cut their losses by allowing him to leave for a reported 100 million euros.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old lifted five Ligue 1 titles and three French Cups with PSG, scoring 118 goals in 173 appearances.<\/p>\n

But Neymar only lived up to expectations intermittently, as even his combination with Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe failed to deliver europe’s biggest prize to PSG’s Qatari owners.<\/p>\n

French media reported Mbappe made Neymar’s departure one of the necessary conditions for him to sign a new contract in 2022.<\/p>\n

The France captain was also tipped with a move away from the Parc des Princes this summer but now appears set to stay for at least another campaign.<\/p>\n

Neymar has instead settled for following in the footsteps of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Sadio Mane in accepting the Saudi riches on offer.<\/p>\n

He is reported to be set to earn 100 million euros per season with Al Hilal, according to a source close to the negotiations.<\/p>\n

The deal brings an end to an indifferent relationship with PSG, a club he wanted to leave to return to Barcelona in 2019 before signing a contract extension until 2027.<\/p>\n

Paris were open to Neymar leaving last season, but his estimated salary of 30 millions euros a year put off any potential buyers.<\/p>\n

He started the season strongly but was hit by the latest in a series of ankle injuries at the World Cup in Qatar.<\/p>\n

– Injury woes –<\/strong><\/p>\n

Neymar won a domestic treble in his maiden season in France, although he did not play in the latter stages of the campaign after fracturing a metatarsal.<\/p>\n

The following season saw Neymar insult officials on Instagram after PSG were dumped out of the Champions League by Manchester United, before he appeared to punch a spectator after a French Cup final defeat by Rennes.<\/p>\n

He was then disciplined after missing pre-season training in 2019 but decided to stay at the club after not securing a transfer back to Barca.<\/p>\n

A third straight Ligue 1 title followed in a Covid-hit season, but PSG suffered heartbreak in the Champions League showpiece, losing 1-0 to Bayern.<\/p>\n

He suffered ankle and adductor injuries in the 2020-21 season as PSG contrived to lose the French title race to Lille.<\/p>\n

More injuries followed under coach Mauricio Pochettino, although he did play in their next Champions League exit at the hands of Real Madrid.<\/p>\n

Last season, the front three of Neymar, Messi and Mbappe were in fine form before the World Cup.<\/p>\n

But Neymar needed surgery on his injured ankle in March and missed the second leg of the Champions League last-16 loss to Bayern.<\/p>\n

The season ended in turmoil for PSG, although they stumbled across the line to win another league title, with supporters protesting outside the club’s headquarters and Neymar’s home.<\/p>\n

Neymar’s exit helps PSG balance the books as they bid to adhere to financial fair-play restrictions, with midfielder Marco Verratti also expected to leave before the end of the month after 11 years with the team.<\/p>\n

PSG are now hoping for the start of a new era at the Parc des Princes, evidenced by the recent signings of Marco Asensio, Ousmane Dembele and Goncalo Ramos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By AFP Neymar brought an end to a topsy-turvy spell at Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday by leaving for Saudi club Al Hilal, six years after great fanfare greeted his arrival in the French capital. The Brazilian was afforded a rock star’s welcome in Paris when he signed from Barcelona for a world-record fee of 222 million euros ($242 million), but left just months after PSG fans protested outside his house, demanding his exit from the club. PSG hoped Neymar would help deliver a coveted maiden Champions League title when he joined in 2017, but the closest he came was a 2020 final defeat by Bayern Munich. Several injuries plagued his time in Paris, with PSG seemingly happy to cut their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":68021,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"2","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"0","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-normal","show_share_counter":"0","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"F j, Y g:i a","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"0","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"3","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2005],"class_list":["post-68020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-neymar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68020"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}