João Neves, the cornerstone
Paris Saint-Germain's new 19-year-old midfielder, João Neves, will be central to the club's plans for the coming season. We turn the spotlight on the new arrival.
Vermelho e Azul
Neves joins a strong Portuguese contingent in the French capital with Danilo Pereira, Nuno Mendes, Vitinha and Gonçalo Ramos already here. That means PSG will go into the 2024-25 season with five Portugal internationals (Neves has 9 caps).
João Neves replaced Gonçalo Ramos to make his senior first-team debut during Benfica's meeting with Braga on 30 December 2022. He went on to make 17 appearances in all competitions, including three in the Champions League, scoring and assisting once each. It was a promising start for a player who would quickly establish himself as a first-team fixture.
A ROUGH DIAMOND
The following season was more successful still with 55 games played (33 in the league, 12 in European competition across the Champions League and Europa League), scoring three times and tallying one assist. His impressive stats naturally caught the eye of clubs across Europe.
He also got international recognition, featuring at EURO 2024, before choosing to move to Paris to continue his progress, getting the chance to discover a new league, a new country and a new culture.
Neves is a rough diamond to be polished up under coach Luis Enrique, who will no doubt get the best out of his new asset.
DID YOU KNOW?
João Neves is a European champion. He was one of the key members of the Benfica team that won the 2021-22 UEFA Youth League with a 6-0 win over RB Salzburg. It was the club's first European title since 1962!