NEYMAR has taken a whopping 99 per cent pay cut to rejoin boyhood club Santos.
The Brazilian is back at his old side after axing his contract with Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal.
They paid £78million to sign him from Paris Saint-Germain 18 months ago.
And Neymar hit the jackpot when he penned a two-year contract worth nearly £260million BEFORE any commercial deals.
Upon leaving Al-Hilal, his salary worked out to a staggering £2.5m per week.
But he is now getting significantly less at new club Santos.
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The Brazilian side have handed Neymar a six-month contract.
And his base weekly salary is now just £32,500 — 99 per cent less than what he was on in Saudi.
That means he is earning around the same as Chelsea’s third-choice goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli, who has played just once for the Blues in almost four years.
However, Neymar will later be able to claim 90 per cent of his image rights, with Santos expecting a huge boost in revenue following his return to the club.
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It still pales in comparison with his Al-Hilal cash though.
Neymar’s 18 months in Saudi saw him pocket £193.8m in total.
He will still get a further £51.9m in wages from the Middle Eastern side after agreeing to give up £8m.
On top of that, Neymar also raked in £136m of commercial income during his time with Al-Hilal.
It’s a lot of money for someone who scored just once in seven games, with Neymar hit by two long-term injuries during his time there.
Combining his salary, both already paid and owed, and transfer fee, his single goal effectively cost a mind-blowing £322m.
While each of his appearances set Al-Hilal back £46m.
And those amazing figures have enabled Santos to be able to pay Neymar a basic wage while also giving him the platform to rebuild his stagnant football career.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
