Liverpool hasn’t really gotten a lot of signings done, which can be considered as big names but they seem to be in the running for one of the top midfielders from Portugal. While the Reds have been linked with Joao Mario, they have also been linked with Ruben Neves of Porto.
The 19-year-old is one of the most exciting players in the Portuguese league and has found many admirers. Neves started playing for the youth team of Porto from the age of 8 and has been at the club ever since. At the age of 17 years and 5 months, Neves became the youngest ever player to score for Porto in the league. He played his first UEFA Champions League game a few days later, which just shows that he is ready to take up the role and pressure of playing on the biggest stage.
In October 2015, Ruben also became the youngest player to captain a team in the UEFA Champions League as his side defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv. The best comparison that has been made for the 19-year-old is with Barcelona’s Sergio Busquets and that goes a long way into saying just how good he can be in the future.
Currently, one of the main strengths that Neves has is his passing range, which will surely help any side he does sign for. The Porto midfielder is also known for his brilliant positional sense as he often breaks up play with timely interceptions or even covers the field very well with his intelligent runs.
The midfielder is also pretty decent at reading the game and because of his positional sense, he doesn’t really dive into tackles and ensures that the team do not have to deal with counterattacks as he has a history of breaking up play by committing smart fouls.
He also has great close control, but the one major problem with his game is his lack of man marking ability. Too many times opponents drift off him and that does lead to problems, as stated earlier, he is better at taking care of spaces rather than going to close down a player.
Also, the youngster isn’t that great in the air, but he barely has to do much heading in the midfield but he might have to do a bit more if he does shift to the English Premier League. Liverpool have been known to move for a few young players and also bringing in young players, Neves could be the star player for Liverpool in the years to come.
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