Ruben Neves is set to join Al-Hilal despite agreeing on terms with FC Barcelona

Reports state that one of the biggest targets of FC Barcelona, Ruben Neves from the Premier League, is going to Saudi's Al-Hilal at a decent rate of €55 million ($60…

By Mayukh Bhattacharjee

June 19, 2023

2 min read

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Reports state that one of the biggest targets of FC Barcelona, Ruben Neves from the Premier League, is going to Saudi’s Al-Hilal at a decent rate of €55 million ($60 million), despite agreeing terms with the Catalan giants.

The midfielder from Wolverhampton Wanderers is one of the top clients of the super agent Jorge Mendes. With the Portuguese representative who is also a great friend of the President of Barcelona, Joan Laporta, Ruben Neves has been linked with the Blaugranas earlier.

FC Barcelona’s target Ruben Neves joining Al-Hilal

In May, as per ESPN, Joan Laporta was “making progress” on the move for Ruben Neves despite not having the approval of first-team coach Xavi Hernandez.

Xavi has been open about the need to sign new midfielders, especially one that is capable of playing the pivot position soon to be left vacant when captain Sergio Busquets departs on June 30.

The former number ‘6’ would reportedly prefer Joshua Kimmich or Martin Zubimendi, but the club could be priced out of either operation while both men are unwilling to leave their current clubs.

Last week, Kimmich indicated that he would see out the remaining two years of his Bayern Munich contract, while Zubimendi said: “It motivates me more to inherit the ‘4’ of Asier Illarramendi than the ‘5’ of Sergio Busquets” to El Diario Vasco.

These developments could have pushed Xavi back to having to pursue Neves against his will amid SPORT previously reporting that Wolves had offered €30 million ($33 million) plus the player for La Masia graduate Ansu Fati.

According to Relevo, however, the manager probably won’t need to encounter any awkward situations because Wolves and Saudi giants Al-Hilal are in “well advanced” talks regarding a transfer for around €55 million ($60 million) that would send Neves to the Middle East.