Most football enthusiasts who watched Portugal’s 4-2 victory over Finland have said the same thing: “Joao Neves is a star midfielder in the making.”
As you can see below, in the 90 minutes he was on the pitch Tuesday night, the Benfica midfield prodigy shone.
Joao Neves vs. Finland
~113 touches
~101 passes (96%)
~3/3 dribbles completed
~1 chance created
~15 passes into the final third
~5/7 long balls
~7/7 ground duels won
~2/3 tackles won
~6 ball recoveries
~2 interceptions
Arsenal are looking for a top midfielder to complement Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard. According to reports, Neves is one of the midfielders on their radar. Of course, there are other fantastic midfielders, such as Bruno Guimaraes and Martin Zubimendi, but if any Arsenal decision-maker was watching the Portugal vs. Finland friendly, Joao Neves may have earned some transfer points.
The youngster is incredibly press-resistant, has won all of his duels, is very positionally savvy, and has a high football IQ and awareness, all of which Mikel Arteta would want from his No. 6 next season. Neves, just 19, could be a good investment. I’m not sure about you, but I feel if Arsenal is going to spend £100 million plus on a midfielder, it should be on this kid rather than Bruno Guimaraes or Douglas Luiz, who are both priced similarly.
You can watch his performance v Finland on this tweet. Some great distrution balls….
Peter Rix
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