Benfica title-winner tried to keep João Neves but was blocked | OneFootball

Roger Schmidt is the new global consultant for the Japanese league. In an interview with YouTuber Scipion, the former Benfica coach recalled his time at Luz and guaranteed that he tried to keep João Neves — released from the national team — for one more year, but it wasn’t possible.

"I was very relieved, to be honest, because when you’re part of Benfica, you know the love and patience there is at this club and also among the fans. So making them happy and becoming champions was very important, because they hadn’t won titles for three or four years, so I was very relieved that we won the league in the first season. It was a tough race with Porto. At that time we needed a lot of points, but in the end we managed it, and the celebration that followed at Marquês de Pombal was fantastic; it was one of the best moments of my footballing life,” he said.

Recalling his work with João Neves and Gonçalo Ramos, Schmidt doesn’t forget the pair who moved to PSG: “We were champions together at Benfica. That’s the club’s philosophy: at a certain point we’re going to lose these kinds of players. When they stand out, we keep them maybe one more year, at most two more years, and then they’ll probably be sold by the club because it needs these kinds of transfers. But even so, these two young players impressed me a lot. Not only because of their quality, but also because of the love they have for the club. This is very special at Benfica.”

“I’ve been at many clubs and also abroad. But what you feel at Benfica is that the young players coming up through the academy have the goal of playing for Benfica. They love the club a lot and that’s what you see on the pitch. Both are very good examples. Gonçalo Ramos gave everything for Benfica before leaving for Paris, and the same applies to João Neves. I tried to keep him for one more year, but it was impossible. So I think he took that step and is now showing, week after week, that he’s already ready to play abroad at a top international club. At the moment, he’s very much in Paris,” he said, assuring that he tried to keep the midfielder.

“Sometimes, in situations of great pressure in football, it’s good to rely on young players because they don’t care. They just want to play football. As I’ve said, when these players are ready to play and they love the club so much, they love to support us, their families are all Benfica fans. Then, of course, they play with so much enthusiasm, with so much positivity, without any pressure. And sometimes it’s good to give them the opportunity to show whether they’re ready or not. And we did that with João. And from the start, from the first minutes, we saw a player on the pitch with a lot of confidence, with a lot of quality, without any doubts about what he had to do on the field. So he immediately became a very important player in the first season and was also important for us to become champions,” concluded Roger Schmidt.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.