OFFICIAL: 31-year-old Neymar leaves European football and joins Al Hilal

The heir to the legacy of Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi. The next Ballon d'Or winner when the Portuguese and Argentine leave football's elite. That's how many labelled Neymar Jr in his early days with Barcelona when he started to prove he was going to be a superstar.
However, nothing could be further from the truth. The Brazilian, aged just 31, leaves European football in the same year as Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi, who joined Al Nassr and Inter Miami respectively. The PSG winger ends a six-season spell with the French club after being announced as a new player for Al Hilal.
Neymar Jr began to shine at Santos when he was just 17 years old. Even though he was still a minor, big teams in Europe were interested in signing him, including Real Madrid and Barcelona. In the end it was the Catalan giants who managed to land the winger, who arrived at the Catalan club at the age of 22 with a whole career ahead of him. However, the Brazilian left the Catalan giants after four seasons after PSG paid his 222 million euro termination clause.
The young Brazilian arrived at the French club as the most expensive signing in the history of football and was supposed to be the team's leader, although over time the superstar of the Parc des Princes side would end up being Kylian Mbappe. After six seasons at the club presided over by Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the Brazil international is leaving for Saudi Arabia, after Al Hilal reached an agreement with the French club for the transfer of the player for almost 100 million euros.
The vast majority of football fans saw Neymar Jr as the most talented player in the world and the possible future winner of the Ballon d'Or once Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi were no longer at their prime. Neymar was a key player in the MSN that led Barcelona in 2015 to the treble, including La Liga, Champions League and Copa del Rey. However, what the Brazilian did not know was that it would be the only one he would win in his career.
The former Santos player shone with his incredible performances for the 'Cules' and many fans of the Catalan club saw him replacing Messi as Barcelona's leader once the Argentine star left. What the football world did not expect was that, when the Brazil international was more established than ever at the Catalan giants, PSG paid his €222million termination clause in the summer of 2017.
Neymar still had the chance to become the best player in the world at the French club where he arrived at the age of 26 with a millionaire project around him. However, being prone to injuries at the most important moments of the season (UCL play-offs), the player never became as successful as in his golden era at Barcelona.
In addition, the former Santos player leaves the club presided over by Al Khelaifi without achieving the objective for which he was signed: to win the club's first Champions League in their history. They came within a whisker of achieving it in the summer of 2020 by reaching the final, but fell just short of lifting the trophy when they lost the final to Bayern 1-0.
In this way, Neymar leaves European football and ends his career in the top flight. From being the heir to Ronaldo and Messi's legacy to leaving for Saudi Arabia at the age of 31. What could have been and wasn't.