Brazil star Neymar to leave PSG for Saudi Pro League side Al Hilal


John McAuley
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Brazil star Neymar is set to become the latest marquee footballer to move to Saudi Arabia, with the Paris Saint-Germain forward close to a hugely lucrative transfer to Al Hilal.

Neymar, 31, has agreed personal terms to join the Saudi Pro League club this week, where he will sign a two-year contract.

The Brazilian, already the world’s most expensive player, was having a medical in Paris on Monday ahead of travelling to Riyadh. The reported transfer fee is €90 million ($98.5m)

Hilal, record 18-time Saudi champions, open their 2023/24 Saudi Pro League campaign on Monday, away to Abha.

Should it go through as expected, the signing of Neymar would represent yet another coup for the Saudi Pro League, which has already this summer attracted the likes of current Ballon d’Or holder Karim Benzema, Riyad Mahrez, N’Golo Kante, Roberto Firmino and Jordan Henderson.

Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo signed for Al Nassr in December.

Michael Emenalo, the league’s director of football who oversees the acquisition of international stars, told journalists in Jeddah on Saturday that Saudi aimed to have “all the top players” competing there in the next few years.

Emenalo also confirmed that he expected more business to be done by the end of the transfer window, on September 7.

The addition of Neymar at Hilal compares particularly to Ronaldo and Benzema, with the Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) player one of the most recognisable names in football.

Top Saudi Pro League signings

Neymar, whose contract with PSG runs until 2025, signed with the French champions for a world-record €222m in 2017. He has since won Ligue 1 five times, while also finishing runner-up in the 2019/20 Uefa Champions League.

Neymar is Brazil’s joint-top leading goalscorer, alongside Pele, with 77 goals in 124 appearances.

Neymar had been linked heavily with a return to Barcelona, whom he represented from 2013-2017, winning the Champions League and two La Liga titles.

He sat out PSG’s Ligue 1 season-opening 0-0 draw with Lorient on Saturday having trained alone the previous day. The capital club said it was because he was recovering from a viral infection.

Neymar’s time at the Parc des Princes has been dogged recently by injury. He underwent surgery on his ankle in March, returning to meet up with the PSG squad on their recent pre-season tour of Asia.

At Hilal, Neymar would join fellow summer signings Ruben Neves, Kalidou Koulibaly, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Malcom. Hilal have also been credited with serious interest in Marco Verratti, Neymar’s teammate at PSG, and Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic.

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Profile of Tarabut Gateway

Founder: Abdulla Almoayed

Based: UAE

Founded: 2017

Number of employees: 35

Sector: FinTech

Raised: $13 million

Backers: Berlin-based venture capital company Target Global, Kingsway, CE Ventures, Entrée Capital, Zamil Investment Group, Global Ventures, Almoayed Technologies and Mad’a Investment.

Takreem Awards winners 2021

Corporate Leadership: Carl Bistany (Lebanon)

Cultural Excellence: Hoor Al Qasimi (UAE)

Environmental Development and Sustainability: Bkerzay (Lebanon)

Environmental Development and Sustainability: Raya Ani (Iraq)

Humanitarian and Civic Services: Women’s Programs Association (Lebanon)

Humanitarian and Civic Services: Osamah Al Thini (Libya)

Excellence in Education: World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) (Qatar)

Outstanding Arab Woman: Balghis Badri (Sudan)

Scientific and Technological Achievement: Mohamed Slim Alouini (KSA)

Young Entrepreneur: Omar Itani (Lebanon)

Lifetime Achievement: Suad Al Amiry (Palestine)

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UAE

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Manchester City v Napoli
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Chelsea v Roma
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Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.

The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.

Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.

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The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

Read part one: how cars came to the UAE

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Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a  month before Reaching the Last Mile.

Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

 

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The more serious side of specialty coffee

While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.

The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.

Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”

One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.

Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms. 

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Hometown: Dubai

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Hometown: Cologne, Germany

Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)

Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes

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Where to buy art books in the UAE

There are a number of speciality art bookshops in the UAE.

In Dubai, The Lighthouse at Dubai Design District has a wonderfully curated selection of art and design books. Alserkal Avenue runs a pop-up shop at their A4 space, and host the art-book fair Fully Booked during Art Week in March. The Third Line, also in Alserkal Avenue, has a strong book-publishing arm and sells copies at its gallery. Kinokuniya, at Dubai Mall, has some good offerings within its broad selection, and you never know what you will find at the House of Prose in Jumeirah. Finally, all of Gulf Photo Plus’s photo books are available for sale at their show. 

In Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi has a beautiful selection of catalogues and art books, and Magrudy’s – across the Emirates, but particularly at their NYU Abu Dhabi site – has a great selection in art, fiction and cultural theory.

In Sharjah, the Sharjah Art Museum sells catalogues and art books at its museum shop, and the Sharjah Art Foundation has a bookshop that offers reads on art, theory and cultural history.

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Updated: August 16, 2023, 7:55 AM`