João Neves: straight to the very top

The definitive SCOUTED50 profile.

SCOUTED50 is our collection of the fifty young talents we believe are best positioned to break into the mainstream during 2023/24. Throughout the season, we’ll be detailing all fifty in definitive profiles.

Read the full list here. This one drills down on João Neves.

This profile was produced as part of a commercial collaboration with SkillCorner, SCOUTED’s official data partner. SkillCorner’s tracking and performance data is used by more than 150 of the world’s biggest clubs, leagues and confederations. Learn more.

All stats correct as of 10/05/2024 unless otherwise noted.

When it comes to developing and selling top-end talent, few clubs do it like SL Benfica. The Portuguese giants are perhaps the ultimate finishing school in football: they prepare prospects for the elite, plumping them up perfectly to make another extraordinary profit.

Their hit list is extensive. It features, among others, Bernardo Silva, Rúben Dias, Ederson, Ángel Di María, Darwin Núñez, Gonçalo Ramos, João Cancelo, Renato Sanches, Nélson Semedo, Victor Lindelöf, Nemanja Matić, Ramires, David Luíz, Axel Witsel and Jan Oblak. Oh, and then there’s the two €100-plus million golden geese: Enzo Fernández and João Félix.

The list is exhaustive, let alone extensive. You could scroll through the club’s record sales page on Transfermarkt for a good 20 minutes picking out good players – and not so good players. One thing you will notice while doing so is the relative balance that Benfica has struck when it comes to sourcing their players. Many are brought in from outside markets, trained, played then flipped on, but there’s a big chunk of home-grown talent that have risen through the ranks there too.

The truncated list above features no less than seven graduates of their famous Seixal academy, and they make up half of the club’s ten-most expensive exports. Bernardo, Dias and Cancelo have gone on to be key players in the Manchester City dynasty; Ramos is at Paris Saint-Germain; Renato was a much-vaunted breakout talent that fell off the wagon; and João Félix is one of the world’s most expensive players.

Another academy graduate that will rank in the upper echelon of that list before long is little João Neves.

At Benfica since the age of 12, the tenacious technician from a sleepy town on the Algarve coast has burst onto the scene in a big way over the past year. Since making his first senior start – a 1-0 win against Estoril at the Estadio da Luz – in late April of last year, Neves has nailed down a slot as a starter under Roger Schmidt.

Only four Benfica team-mates have played more than the 19-year-old’s whopping tally of 4,212 minutes (and counting) across all competitions this season. They include appearing in all but one league game, completing every single minute of a 12-game European campaign that made up of a Champions League group stage and a run to the Europa League quarter-finals, as well as a practically ever-present status in three different domestic cup competitions.

Such a rise had to be rewarded with senior caps for Portugal. His first of five to date came a few months after he caught the eye at the UEFA U-21 EURO, where he was the youngest in his country’s squad by a couple of years.

With the proper EUROs hurtling towards us, Neves has the potential to be the breakout star in Germany – just like Pedri back in 2021, or compatriot Renato Sanches all of eight (!) years ago. He will be the bloody-hell-sign-this-lad-at-all-costs discovery for the uninitiated – and deservedly so. 

Neves can be Benfica’s next €100 million sale. His current buyout clause is €105 million, set when he signed a bumper contract extension at the start of the season. He might even be the best bet of the lot.

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In this profile:

• The little guy who jumps like a salmon

• How Neves’ rapid tempo will electrify top teams

• His fearless, relentless tenacity and bulldog physicality

• A player tailor-made for Pep & Arteta’s suffocation strategies

• Why he’s going straight to the very, very top for an enormous fee