Joao Felix’s €35m-a-year Al-Nassr deal dwarfs Benfica offer

Portuguese forward Joao Felix is set to become one of the highest-paid footballers in the world after agreeing to a stunning €70 million deal with Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr — a move largely driven by salary, rather than sentiment.

Felix, once seen as a generational talent, turned down a return to boyhood club Benfica despite initially agreeing to a significantly reduced salary of €3 million per season — the highest the Portuguese club could offer. Al-Nassr’s counteroffer was impossible to ignore: €35 million per year, or more than ten times what Benfica had proposed.

According to A Bola, the 25-year-old will earn a total of €70 million over two years, instantly placing him in the top five highest earners in Saudi Arabia’s top flight. He now joins a money-soaked elite behind Cristiano Ronaldo, Riyad Mahrez, Karim Benzema, and Sadio Mane in the Saudi Pro League’s wage table.

For context, Felix earned €8 million per year tax-free during his short loan stint at Chelsea. But that figure pales in comparison to the financial muscle flexed by Al-Nassr — a club backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has aggressively targeted European stars in recent years to raise the league’s profile.

Here’s how Felix’s new pay stacks up:

Top earners in the Saudi Pro League (per year):

• Cristiano Ronaldo (Al-Nassr) — €208.4 million
• Riyad Mahrez (Al-Ahli) — €52.2 million
• Karim Benzema (Al-Ittihad) — €50 million
• Sadio Mane (Al-Nassr) — €40 million
• Joao Felix (Al-Nassr) — €35 million

Al-Nassr will pay Chelsea a guaranteed €30 million transfer fee, with an additional €20 million in performance-related bonuses, according to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano. Only the medical remains before the deal is finalized.

Felix’s career has been a rollercoaster since his €126 million move to Atletico Madrid in 2019. Despite flashes of brilliance, his time in Spain was inconsistent and marked by injuries and a rocky relationship with manager Diego Simeone. He struggled to find form on loan spells at Chelsea, Barcelona, and more recently, AC Milan.

Now, with the lure of a financial package too big to ignore, Felix is betting on a fresh start in Saudi Arabia — where he’ll trade European ambition for economic security and a chance to rebuild his reputation under less intense pressure.