Ruben Neves has agreed to join Saudi Arabia side Al-Hilal from Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The English Premier League club agreed on a deal reportedly worth 55 million euros (£47m) to sell their captain to the Middle East club.
According to reports, Ruben Neves has completed his medical with Al-Hilal ahead of his transfer to the Saudi Arabia Pro League.
The Portugal international will put pen to paper on a deal that will run through the summer of 2026.
The 26-year-old Portugal International midfielder still has a contract with Wolves that will expire in the summer of 2024.
Ruben Neves has been linked with a move to several top European clubs with Manchester United and FC Barcelona in the race to sign the midfielder.
He declared at the end of the just-concluded season that he was ambitious amid interest from Barcelona.
However, Barcelona were not able to come up with a reasonable offer and Neves has taken the choice of becoming the latest big-name football player to join the Saudi Pro League.
Neves’s transfer to Saudi Arabia is expected to be officially announced after this month’s international break.
Wolves consider it a great business move as they look to earn revenue to help manager Julen Lopetegui upgrade his squad.
The transfer fee would also help Wolves with Financial Fair Play and it is larger than the £45 million they received from Liverpool for Diogo Jota three years ago.
Since his 2017 transfer from Porto, Neves has been an integral part of their success.
He joined Wolves in July 2017 from Porto and has since appeared in 253 games for the club, scoring 30 goals in all competitions.
He was a crucial part of their promotion to the Premier League after a subsequent championship victory.
After losing in the Europa League quarterfinals to Lopetegui’s Sevilla in 2020, the team has struggled to repeat its success, finishing 13th in the league despite being last before Christmas.
Following in the footsteps of his international teammate Cristiano Ronaldo, who signed with Al Nassr in December 2022, Neves would become the latest high-profile player to make the move to the Saudi Pro League.
Former Real Madrid striker and current Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema has also moved to Saudi Arabia this summer. After 14 years at Real Madrid, the then-35-year-old signed with Al Ittihad, led by Nuno Espirito Santo, his former team at Wolves.
Chelsea’s N’Golo Kante, Kalidou Koulibaly, and Hakim Ziyech, as well as Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez, have reportedly attracted the attention of teams in Saudi Arabia.
Al-Hilal have won four consecutive AFC Champions League titles and were recently in the news for their rumored £21 million annual offer to Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku.
Despite the large compensation offer, it is surprising that Neves is willing to leave his career high and travel to Saudi Arabia. He waved tearfully goodbye to fans at the end of the previous season.
Should Ruben Neves signs with Al Hilal, he would play in front of 68,000 fans at King Fahd International Stadium, among the likes of Andre Carrillo and Matheus Pereira, two former Premier League stalwarts.
Ruben Neves’s contract and salary with Wolves.
Wolves signed Neves from FC Porto in the summer of 2017 on a deal reportedly worth 15 million pounds.
The midfielder signed a five years deal with the Premier League club that saw him earn an annual salary worth £2,600,000.
How much is Ruben Neves expected to earn at Al-Hilal?
The 26-year-old will land a contract calculated as at least 300,000 pounds per week if his 47 million pounds transfer to the Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal goes through.
