Al-Hilal, a soccer club from Saudi Arabia, is reportedly preparing to offer Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe a whopping $1.1 billion deal. The deal would involve a transfer fee of $332 million to PSG and a salary of $776 million for Mbappe’s season stay in Saudi Arabia. Reportedly, Mbappe is interested in playing for Real Madrid next year, and he may be able to do so after his stint in Saudi Arabia.
If the deal goes through, Mbappe would earn the highest salary ever for an athlete, surpassing Lionel Messi’s current record of $674 million over four years, which he received from FC Barcelona in 2017.
Saudi Arabia has been making significant investments in soccer: Cristiano Ronaldo reportedly signed with Al-Nassr for a reported $214 million annually over two-and-a-half years last year.
It is worth noting that Al-Hilal had allegedly proposed a $1.6 billion contract to Messi for three years in June, but the footballer decided to join Inter Miami in the MLS instead.
Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr are two of the four Saudi Pro League clubs that were recently restructured to be predominantly owned by the Public Investment Fund, which is managed by the Saudi Arabian government.
Mbappe currently earns $128 million per year under his current contract with PSG. If the rumored agreement between Saudi Arabia and PSG, which is owned by Qatar Sports Investments, is finalized, it would signify a deal between two wealthy Middle Eastern nations that are investing billions into sports.
Notably, the Qatar Investment Authority was the first sovereign wealth fund to invest in a U.S. sports team by acquiring Monumental Sports & Entertainment.
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Contact multi-media staff writer Noral Parham III at (317)-762-7846 or via email at noralp@indyrecorder.com. Follow him on Twitter @NoralParham.
