Manchester City have rather excitingly been linked with a move for Joao Neves, Benfica’s latest hot prospect.
Pep Guardiola was his superiors were busy in the summer, with four new faces coming in at the Etihad.
We saw two new midfielders come in in the form of Matheus Nunes and Mateo Kovacic.
This, after Ilkay Gundogan left the club to join Barcelona on a free transfer.
But it seems City might fancy adding another midfielder to the squad at some point in the near future.
Neves has attracted a fair bit of attention since making his first-team debut for Benfica back in December of last year.
He is still only 18, but looks to be the new biggest talent emerging at the Portuguese giants.
Benfica recently made a huge sale in the form of Enzo Fernandez to Chelsea, and one wonders if City could actually land a similar player if they did go for Neves…
Manchester City target Joao Neves is a coveted all-rounder
90min believe that City are actually leading the charge for Neves at the moment.
There is interest from the likes of Manchester United, PSG, Borussia Dortmund and Juventus.
It is little wonder clubs are sniffing around already.
According to respected website Football Talent Scout, there are some parallels between young Neves and Enzo Fernandez, who left Benfica in January to join Chelsea.
Neves is described as ‘a brilliant ball-winner’. But not only that, he is said to be ‘always thinking ahead after making a challenge’.
A little further on, it is stated that Neves is ‘seemingly always one step ahead of the opposition’.
The teenager’s output right now is primarily defensive, but he has also demonstrated that he a great striker of the ball, as evidenced by his superb goal against the Belgium U21s earlier this year.
The most exciting line from Football Talent Scout is that Neves ‘is probably the closest thing you can find to a ‘perfect’ midfielder’.
The next Enzo Fernandez?
An exciting picture is painted here and it’s very difficult not to make the comparison to Fernandez.
Since coming to England, Fernandez has been brilliant for Chelsea, who has struggled as a collective.
He is clearly a quality player, and does not have that many weaknesses.
He’s an all-rounder, and Neves seems to have a similar profile. They are also quite similar in terms of height and physical build.
Chelsea have themselves a diamond in Fernandez. It would be brilliant if City could sign someone who could become just like the Argentine.
But any future move will likely be very expensive.
Like Fernandez before him, Neves has a very big release clause – of a reported £103 million.
