A possible Neymar move to Major League Soccer could be picking up steam as the Al Hilal forward is in talks with three MLS teams including the Chicago Fire, according to ESPN. While there have been reports that Chicago Fire owner Joe Mansueto and head coach Gregg Berhalter were in Saudi Arabia to negotiate with Al Hilal, but a source with knowledge of the situation confirms that was not, in fact the case.
The 32-year-old Brazilian hasn’t featured much for Al Hilal due to suffering injuries to his knee and hamstring and also hasn’t been registered in their squad for Saudi Pro League play despite being able to play in their Asian Champions League matches. Neymar has only made seven appearances for Al Hilal since joining the club in 2023, registering one goal and two assists. Still not healthy from his current hamstring injury, the beginning of his tenure with any club would be a rehab stint. Al Hilal coach Jorge Jesus said that they won’t be registering him due to no longer being able to perform at his normal level.
“It’s not easy. He’s coming back from an injury that kept him out of the competition. When he was almost back, he got injured again. He’s a player that leaves no doubt in anyone’s mind, he’s a world-class player. But the truth is that physically he hasn’t been able to keep up with the team,” Jesus said in a post-match press conference.
“It’s not easy. We have to take out a foreign player to register Neymar. Neymar is registered for the Asian Champions League, but he is not registered for one competition, which is the championship. He will also decide his life. What I know is that he has a contract with Al-Hilal. And the rest is not up to me to say anything more about his personal situation”
Could a Lionel Messi reunion be in the cards?
The most obvious fit would be Inter Miami where Neymar has spoken about wanting to reunite with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, and Suarez has also spoken about how he’d love to also play with Neymar again. The trio set the soccer world alight when they were together at Barcelona about a decade ago, but Inter Miami’s manager Javier Mascherano downplayed the possibility during MLS media day.
“We cannot talk about Ney because we have nothing about him,” Mascherano said. “Obviously, Ney is a great player, everyone or every coach in the world wants him but at the moment, you know the rules, the MLS rules about the salary cap. So, for us in this moment. it’s impossible…”
The important words there are, “at the moment.” since then MLS has already unveiled a new mechanism that teams can use to gain funds on domestic transfers, there’s nothing preventing Inter Miami from clearing salaries to pursue players if they’d like to.
Chicago Fire interest
According to GIVEMESPORT, the Chicago Fire have Neymar’s discovery rights giving them exclusive negotiation rights with the global superstar. Neymar’s salary demands would be high as he’s making around $100 million per year at Al Hilal, but with a wage structure similar to Messi’s, which includes money from Adidas and Apple, there are ways for the league and the Fire to get creative to get Neymar to MLS.
Chicago has been busy under Gregg Berhalter preparing for the season, but the club only has one designated player currently so they’d have an easy time adding any player that they could convince to join their project. The blank slate does give the Fire flexibility and they also have signed global superstars like Bastian Schweinsteiger before. It’d be a long shot for a move to happen, but that doesn’t make it impossible.
What are discovery rights?
A club is allowed to have up to five players on their discovery list at any time to give them exclusive negotiation rights with those players if they come to MLS. There are some restrictions like players who have been in MLS or are currently playing or players who are on another team’s discovery list currently. If a club wants to sign a player on another club’s discovery list, they may offer $50,000 in General Allocation Money for those rights but negotiations can go higher.
When the LA Galaxy signed Marco Reus, he was on Charlotte FC’s discovery list, which gave Charlotte exclusive negotiation rights with the German. The Galaxy were able to trade for those rights but they cost $400,000 in GAM to acquire due to the player involved and Charlotte ensuring that they could profit on them. If a team were to trade for those rights from Chicago to negotiate with Neymar, they’d surely be higher than what the Galaxy paid, only further complicating a move for a team like Inter Miami.
While Neymar would surely be eying a spot with Brazil at the 2026 World Cup, getting back to his best for a club will be critical in doing that. It seems like there’s a growing chance that that place could be in Major League Soccer where the transfer window will open on Jan. 31.
