The president of the Saudi club Al-Hilal, Fahd Bin Nafelrefused to confirm the signing of an agreement with the Argentine star Lionel Messi, while fans of the team chanted the name of the still player of Paris SG to demand his signing.
“Don’t ask me about Messi,” Bin Nafel responded to journalists on Friday, questioned about rumors of the signing of the Argentine captain, just after Al-Hilal’s victory in the Copa del Rey final played in Jeddah against Al Wehda (1-1, 7-6 on penalties).
Messi, the obsession
“I will not tell them anything. If something comes out of our press department, they will find out,” he insisted.
In another interview conducted on the same pitch, while the fans chanted the name of “íMessi, Messi!”Bin Nafel stated: “The group is more important to me than a player”. “Any star who comes to our club must know that we are a great club. Our goal is to improve (the squad). If you focus on one person, you lose the group.”he stressed.
The current coach of Al Hilal has been the Argentine Ramón Díaz since February 2022, who already led this Riyadh-based club in a first stage, from October 2016 to February 2018. After two disappointing seasons at Paris SG, the rich The Saudi kingdom would have proposed to the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner (35 years old) an “exceptional”, “huge” golden bridge, a source in Riyadh close to the negotiations explained to AFP last Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia already managed to capture the spotlight at the end of last year when it managed to attract the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo to its championship with a contract estimated at 400 million euros until 2025, making the Portuguese striker the highest paid athlete in the world in 2023, according to the Forbes magazine.
AFP
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