The Brazilian may have been the club’s star summer signing, but it is the former Fulham forward who has emerged as their talisman

On August 15, Al-Hilal announced the signing of Neymar from Paris Saint-Germain for €90 million (£77.2m/$98.3m). It was the most expensive transfer in the history of the Saudi Pro League (SPL), the biggest deal ever done outside of Europe too, and the Brazilian was given a predictably rapturous welcome when he arrived in Riyadh.

Al-Hilal had already made several other notable acquisitions during the off-season, including Kalidou Koulibaly, Ruben Neves, Malcom and, perhaps most impressively of all, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic – but the Neymar transfer obviously trumped them all.

This was the statement signing the club had been desperate to make; a coup comparable to Al-Nassr landing Cristiano Ronaldo in January or Al-Ittihad convincing Karim Benzema to leave Real Madrid at the end of last season.

In terms of visibility and profile, bringing in Brazil’s all-time leading goalscorer was priceless. But, from a sporting perspective, Al-Hilal coach Jorge Jesus didn’t necessarily need Neymar. In reality, what he really needed was a No.9 – and just four days after Neymar joined, he got one.

 ImagesMitrovic forces his way out of Fulham

Al-Hilal did their utmost to persuade Romelu Lukaku to join in July, but the Belgian said that while he was “honoured” by the interest of “the biggest club in the Middle East”, he wasn’t “ready to leave Europe”. Consequently, Al-Hilal had to turn their attention elsewhere, and Aleksandar Mitrovic quickly emerged as their preferred target.

The problem was that Fulham had no intention of selling their star striker, the man that had fired them back into the Premier League with a record-breaking 43 goals – before helping them stay there by netting 14 times last season. But Mitrovic made life difficult for Fulham. Impossible, in fact.

After “reluctantly” agreeing to let him leave after the Premier League season had already begun, and just two weeks before the close of the transfer window, the Cottagers stated that “the player had consistently made his desire to leave known”.

Manager Marco Silva went even further, saying that Mitrovic had “forced” his way out of the club. “If you ask me if it is normal? No,” the Portuguese told reporters. “If you ask me if football players should behave in this way? No. That is the easy answer.”

‘Al-Hilal a bit like Real Madrid’

Mitrovic felt Al-Hilal had made him an offer that he couldn’t refuse. “I talked about it with my family,” he told the Gazzetta dello Sport just over a month after signing a deal worth a reported £400,000 ($500,000) per week. “Turning it down was impossible.”

Mitrovic insisted, though, that it wasn’t just a question of money. The former Anderlecht and Newcastle forward said he was delighted to have finally “arrived at a top club”. While that felt like an unnecessary dig at Fulham, he had a point when he claimed that “Al-Hilal is a bit like Real Madrid in Europe.”

They’re not just the most successful side in the history of Saudi Arabian football, no team in Asia has lifted more trophies (66), including four AFC Champions Leagues (1991, 2000, 2019 and 2021). They also reached the final of the FIFA Club World Cup earlier this year, losing 5-3 to Madrid themselves in a cracking contest in Morocco.

 Images‘You can see how Mitrovic helped us’

Jesus was just as happy to have Mitrovic on board and threw him straight into the starting line-up for the August 24 clash with Al-Raed. Just five days after his unveiling as an Al-Hilal player, which coincided with a frustrating 1-1 draw at home to Al-Fayha, Mitrovic made his presence felt, opening the scoring in a 4-0 rout of Al-Raed with a trademark header.

“You can see how Mitrovic helped us offensively today,” Jesus enthused afterwards. “In the second half he started to get physically tired, but that is normal because he joined the team only a few days ago.”

Mitrovic admitted that he had felt some fatigue in the second half, and would require some time to get in sync with his team-mates, but declared that he felt “more than ready for the upcoming games”. And he proved true to his word.

Stealing Benzema’s thunder

When Al-Hilal travelled to Al-Ittihad on September 1 for the first Saudi Clasico of the season, all eyes were on the home side’s striker, the Ballon d’Or-holding Benzema. It was the visiting No.9 who stole the show, though. Mitrovic cancelled out Romarinho’s opener with a stunning volley before going on to score a hat-trick in a thrilling 4-3 win. A very clear and unequivocal message had been sent to the reigning SPL champions: Al-Hilal were a very real threat to Al-Ittihad’s crown with Mitrovic up front.

And the feeling at the time was that as soon as Neymar was fit to play, Jesus’ side would become even more formidable up front. That notion was reinforced by the South American setting up two goals in a 26-minute minute cameo against Al-Riyadh a fortnight later. There was another assist – but still no goals – in a 2-0 win over Al-Shabab on September 29.

However, by that point, there were already rumours that Neymar and Jesus were not seeing eye to eye. It was even claimed that the forward wanted the Portuguese sacked, prompting talk that Jesus might return to former club Flamengo.

The forward dismissed the speculation as “bullsh*t” and “fake news”, but some have argued that the season-ending injury Neymar suffered while on international duty in October may have been something of a blessing in disguise for Jesus, at least from a tactical perspective.

Has Neymar’s injury helped?

No coach would like to be denied the services of one of the most gifted attackers in the game, but there is no denying that his unavailability has benefited others.

After a patchy start to his SPL career, former Lazio midfielder Milinkovic-Savic is now playing with greater consistency, seemingly revelling in more opportunities to get forward. Neymar’s absence has also given more room and responsibility to Salem Al-Dawsari, who is now showing why he was recently crowned Asian Player of the Year, and Malcom, with the former Barcelona flop already into double figures for the season.

As for Mitrovic, he said not long after joining Al-Hilal, that it was “fantastic” playing alongside Neymar – but he’s not missed the former Barcelona man at all. On the contrary, Mitrovic is thriving as the team’s undoubted talisman.

‘Mitrovic is a finisher’

As Jesus said recently, “We don’t have another player with his characteristics in the team. Inside the box, he is merciless – he is a finisher. He has his own characteristics as a player and is very important for the squad.”

There’s no doubt about that, with Mitrovic having netted 11 times in 12 SPL appearances for the league leaders. He’s also scored in five games in a row going into Friday’s eagerly-awaited showdown with second-placed Al-Nassr.

When one considers that Ronaldo is also on fire at the moment, the game in Riyadh is not only bringing together the two best teams in Saudi Arabia right now, but also its two best players.

The Portuguese will, of course, be expected to prevail in this eagerly-awaited shootout between two top strikers, but Mitrovic, who has 18 goals in 19 appearances in all competitions, simply cannot be discounted.

He’s already upstaged Neymar and Benzema this season; stealing the limelight from Ronaldo would represent one hell of a hat-trick.