Schmidt: I tried to keep player but Rui Costa sold him | OneFootball

Roger Schmidt revealed that he tried to keep João Neves — released from the National Team — at Benfica. The coach who spent time with the Eagles recalled his days with the Reds and how the title celebrations were “one of the best moments” of his life in the world of football.

“I was very relieved, to be honest, because when you are part of Benfica, you know the love and patience that exist at this club and also among the supporters. 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 right 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 to YouTuber Scipion.

Recalling working with João Neves and Gonçalo Ramos, Schmidt doesn’t forget the duo 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 despite that, 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 growing up in the academy have the goal of playing for Benfica. They love the club, 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 goes for João Neves. I tried to keep him for another 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 stated, assuring that he tried to hold on to the midfielder.

“Sometimes, in high-pressure situations in football, it’s good to count 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 like 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 are ready or not. And we did that with João. And from the start, from the first minutes, we saw a player on the pitch who has a lot of confidence, who has a lot of quality, without any doubts about what he has to do on the field. So he immediately became a very important player in his first season and was also important for us to become champions,” he concluded.

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