‘Looked down on’ for his height, João Neves on his rise to PSG | OneFootball

At 21, João Neves, a midfielder for Paris Saint-Germain, reflected on his childhood for the club's website, marked by doubts related to his small stature and a physique deemed insufficient. He reveals how he compensated with intelligence and intuition. A rare maturity that led him to become a central piece of the European champion PSG.

Neves "They despise me because of my height"

Neves as a child (retro)

They despise me because of my height and because my physical strength isn't very great. But intelligence counts too. When you don't have the right physique, you need to have intelligence. It can't be explained. I just do, I don't think. Everyone tells me: "No, it's not a question of physique. It's in your head."

Neves "It becomes intuition"

Neves reacts to the video.

I was 14 or 15 years old, I don't remember very well. It was at that moment that I was called for the first time to the Portuguese under-15 team. They chose four or five players, and I was one of them, but when I say in this video that they despised me because of my strength and height, I meant that, in a match with me, in a duel, there wasn't much strength, because they thought they were going to win.

They were surprised by my way of playing, because I never failed to give 100% in any duel or any action of my game. That's why I said they despised me, even in their chants.

They needed to mark a player to avoid a header, they always marked the taller ones and ended up leaving me alone. So my maturity, my way of seeing things always had to be a bit more advanced than others.

I had to know how to position myself, when to jump, and understand the timing. And it's the repetition of actions. The more actions you have in training and in matches, the more you perfect your actions and reach a point where you act without thinking. It becomes intuition.

Neves "I think I've always had this vision of seeing football"

Nowadays, football is becoming more and more tactical. I think the intelligence to know how to position yourself, when to make one touch or two, when to advance the ball, when to stop the game, when to accelerate, is probably the most important factor in today's football.

Obviously, the more enduring you are, the stronger, the faster, the better you play. But I don't think that's the most important. I think I've always had this vision of seeing football; you have to be smarter, to anticipate movements, to anticipate actions.

Neves "Midfield has always been the best choice for me"

So I never saw myself as a forward or a defender. Midfield has always been the best choice for me. Because I want to be a complete player, I want to be able to do a bit of everything. And I think football is very connected to midfield, to defense, to attack, to passing and recovering. So I think I've found the position that suits me best on the field. As for the goals this season, our game, as everyone knows, is not a game where we use the number 9, the center forward.

As a number 9, we use more of a false nine. The midfielders are entering the zone more and more, and our full-backs are doing it more and more. It's about entering the zone, seizing the opportunity to shoot, not being afraid to take risks. And I believe I'm improving in that area. I've always said it was one of the things I needed to improve in my football: scoring goals by entering the box.

But I wasn't in a hurry. Fortunately, it's now accelerating. And we must keep moving forward because I've always followed my father's words: "The hardest part is not getting there, it's staying there." So the hardest part is maintaining this level, this rhythm. But, as I always say, for me, goals are not as important as the team's victory.

Neves "We have a great responsibility this year"

An individual stimulation. But as everyone knows, and it's normal, we have a great responsibility this year. We are the reigning Champions League winners, but for the rest, it's match by match.

We know that we will very likely qualify for the next phase among the top 24. But our goal is to be in the top 8, and that's what we need to do match by match, as we did last year. Last year was a horrible season for PSG in terms of the Champions League, and it ended that way. But we took things one at a time.

We had nothing to lose, and I think it's the same this year. We know we have a responsibility, we are the current Champions League holders, but we know we have the qualities and the right team to win it again.

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