PROFILE | João Neves – PSG’s diamond in the rough | OneFootball

João Neves only made his professional debut on the 1st of January 2023. The call from his boyhood club, Benfica, came near the end of a 1-0 victory over Portimonense as the eighteen-year-old midfielder replaced PSG’s loanee Julien Draxler for the final 13 minutes.

His debut was a result of the club preparing for a future without Enzo Fernández. The World Cup winner was set to leave Portugal and would do so later that month for a record British transfer fee as Chelsea snapped up the Argentine for €121m. It was natural that Os Encarnados’ supporters would feel some fear for the future despite the impressive fee.

Fernández had been the lynchpin of a team that was midway through the hunt for their first league title since the 2018/19 season. No one expected Neves to step into the team immediately, but the path was set for him, and he was slowly eased into the role before starting the final six games of the campaign.

Neves took the opportunity afforded to him by head coach Roger Schmidt and ran with it becoming an indispensable presence in the home stretch of the season. The midfielder even scored his first-ever goal during the dying minutes of a crucial 2-2 draw with Sporting. It was a goal in the penultimate game of the season and one that many believed helped Benfica seal their first league title in four years.

Thrust into the limelight

The 2023/24 season would be Neves’ first complete campaign in professional football. And it would prove to be a transition year when the promising midfielder moved beyond an earmarked replacement for Fernández to becoming the new heartbeat of his boyhood club.

Neves started in almost every single game for Benfica, and while results would prove to be less impressive than the season before, as the club finished runners-up in the league to fierce rivals Sporting and were unable to match their run to the quarter-final of the Champions League.

And while other players and the head coach were the recipients of fierce criticism for the team’s failings, Neves generally was left unscathed by the fans’ ire. The supporters recognised the precocious talent of their deep-lying playmaker and appreciated that even as a teenager he showed leadership qualities that were lacking in other areas of the squad.

In a 5-0 defeat to Porto, Neves was the player who shouldered the burden for the rest of the squad by speaking to the supporters after the game and was even the one to put himself in front of the press. In another time, when less rich leagues could afford to keep their talent, Neves would likely have earned himself the captain’s armband.

However, sharks had been circling the waters and were left undeterred by a €120 million release clause. The 2023/24 season would be Neves’ first complete season and also his last at Benfica. PSG had set their sights on the midfielder and over the 2024 summer transfer window secured a reported €70m fee with bonuses included for his services.

Neves leads the assist charts in Ligue 1

It was a move that was certainly met with a lot of skepticism. There was the feeling that PSG were spending a substantial amount of money on an undoubtedly promising player but one who had only a single full season of professional football under his belt. There was the risk that a young player (19 at the time of his move) could feel weighed down by the expectations that came with his price tag.

There were also a lot of eyebrows raised over the fact that PSG were once again dipping into the Portuguese market only a year after they had bought Manuel Ugarte from Sporting for €60m (later sold to Manchester United for the same price). The two midfielders also ostensibly play in the same area of the pitch albeit their interpretations of the role are wildly different.

With this in mind, there were concerns. However, as a player who has spent his short career being thrown in at the deep end, Neves was able to quieten some of those doubts with a scintillating start to life in the French capital. Neves quickly embraced life under Luis Enrique’s management and within two months of football in Ligue 1 had already assisted more goals (6) than during his entire time at Benfica (5).

Neves sits atop the assist table in Ligue 1, but the quickfire start has somewhat masked a dry November and December where the 20-year-old midfielder has contributed neither a goal nor an assist for the club in any competition. And in the 0-0 draw against Auxerre on the 6th of December, Neves was left as an unused substitute for the first time since swapping France for Portugal.

A drop off at the end of 2024

The problem for Neves now is that expectations have shifted since he was signed from Benfica. The weariness of an unknown (relatively) but expensively acquired prospect has been shaped by those early experiences watching the midfielder pull the strings against Le Havre and Montpellier. There is a residing view that the Portuguese international should be continuing at the rate at which he started.

This is of course unfair. PSG has fully embraced a new project built on the backs of young talent with high ceilings for growth. The squad is full of players like Désiré Doué, Bradley Barcola, and Warren Zaïre-Emery, players that are at this point in their career diamonds in the rough. There will be moments this season where they excel and also moments where they run cold.

This is the reality of a team that is looking to develop young talent; growing pains are an inevitable byproduct. Neves has clearly shown something exciting during both his time in his native country and also during the start of his life in France. The task for PSG across his five-year contract will be trying to make sure that he can iron out his weaknesses and become a consistent threat across the entire season.

GFFN | Nick Hartland