RIYAHD — International soccer stars Luka Modric of Croatia, and Brazilian star Neymar are likely to sign with Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, Wilfried Zaha, who will be a free agent when his contract with Crystal Palace expires at the end of the month, looks set to reject an offer to join Cristiano Ronaldo-led Al-Nassr club. The Riyadh-based Al-Hilal and other major Saudi Pro League clubs are in the limelight of the international media as they are showing keen interest on the European transfer market with monster offers for many international stars. The Saudi League clubs have captured the attention of the global media in the past few weeks, and have increased intensively in the past hours, due to the decision-makers in the Saudi League targeting the European transfer market to bring the best international players to be present in the new season of the league. According to the British newspaper The Guardian, Modric is considering a move to the Saudi Arabian Al-Hilal after more than a decade at Real Madrid. Modric, the world's best player in 2018, is expected to hold a press conference on Tuesday, to talk about his future plan. Modric's current Real Madrid contract expires on June 30. Modric, who joined Real Madrid from Tottenham in 2012 for £30 million and has won the Champions League five times, had looked set to agree a year's extension to his contract. It is understood the Croatia midfielder is Al-Hilal's main target after they missed out on Lionel Messi. Modric is expected to be offered a two-year deal worth about £60 million a season, the newspaper reported. The veteran midfielder was widely anticipated to extend his contract at the Santiago Bernabeu early this year. However, the renewal has not yet occurred. Hence Saudi Arabian clubs have the opportunity to make an effort to convince Modric for moving to the Middle East. The Croatian international is going to make an announcement on his future soon. He will, in fact, make a decision in the coming days, possibly after considering the pros and cons of departing for Saudi Arabia. As things currently stand, Modric's future at Real Madrid is uncertain, and he may leave the club before the summer. The newspaper said that this offer comes within the framework of the efforts of Saudi football officials to attract the players who won the Golden Ball to play in the Saudi League, as the beginning was with the inclusion of Cristiano Ronaldo for Al-Nassr, then Karim Benzema for Al-Ittihad, and now the quest to contract with Modric. Although Modric reached the age of 37, he remained a pivotal player in the Real Madrid team last season, as he played 52 matches in all competitions, scoring six goals and making the same. Another star who has appeared on Al-Hilal radar in the past few hours is the Brazilian star Neymar, whose team, Paris Saint-Germain, seems ready to hear offers about his transfer. According to CBS network, Paris will ask for nearly 45 million euros to sell the player. Neymar's contract with the French champions extends until 2025. As for the offer made to the player himself, the network said that it is estimated at 200 million euros annually, confirming that a delegation from Al-Hilal club is currently in the French capital to complete the deal. On the other hand, it seems that the deal to include Ivorian striker Wilfried Zaha to Al-Nassr club has stalled, as the CBS sports network said that the player had rejected an offer of 30 million pounds annually to join Cristiano Ronaldo in Al-Nassr. Zaha, whose contract with his team Crystal Palace expires at the end of this month, held several rounds of talks with Al-Nassr last week, but it seems that the player may prefer to stay in Europe, which is perhaps the position of German midfielder Toni Kroos. The German said that he rejected a Saudi offer, and would prefer to stay at least an additional year with Real Madrid. The list of players poised to join the Saudi League clubs is still expanding, as the global website "Goal" mentioned that a Saudi delegation was in Istanbul to attend the Champions League final last Saturday in order to open the door to negotiations with five players from the two teams competing in the final, who are the Manchester City trio - Kai Gundogan, Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez, and Inter Milan duo Romelu Lukaku and Eden Dzeko. Cristiano Ronaldo's move to Al-Nassr was only the beginning of what is to come in Saudi football, as the Saudi League clubs insisted on bringing in the most famous and most important international players to the league championship, through a plan aimed at making the Saudi League one of the most important international leagues, and allowing his clubs to sign with various stars who play in the most famous and most important international teams at present. The new sport project, launched recently by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, aims to achieve qualitative leaps in various realms of sports in the Kingdom by 2030, in addition to developing the football game and its competitions in particular, to bring the Saudi League to the list of the 10 best leagues in the world. It also aims to increase the revenues of the Saudi Professional League from SR450 million to more than SR1.8 billion annually, in addition to raising the market value of the Saudi Professional League from SR3 billion to more than SR8 billion. Al-Hilal was very close to signing with Argentine star Lionel Messi, after the Saudi club entered negotiations strongly with Barcelona and Inter Miami, but Messi finally decided to move to Inter Miami. Al-Ittihad team contracted with French star Karim Benzema, who won the Golden Ball as the best player in the world during the year 2022, in a deal that confirmed the growing steps of Saudi sports in order to take the league to the top, not only in the region but also in the world. Saudi clubs target a list of world-class players such as Belgian Romelu Lukaku, Argentine Mauro Icardi, Spaniard Adama Traore, Spaniard Sergio Busquets, former Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos, and other legends.
