A Conversation with Ricardo Neto, A Rising Star in Benfica’s Youth Ranks | OneFootball

One of the top talents from Benfica’s vaunted academy, we speak to Ricardo Neto about winning multiple major titles with Portugal’s youth national team and the sacrifices he’s made as a young footballer on the rise. 

Take a trip across Europe’s most glamorous metropolises, and you’re bound to find a number of Benfica academy products who are suiting up for the biggest clubs in the continent. Start in Istanbul, where you’ll find new arrivals Ederson and Nélson Semedo shoring up Fenerbahçe’s defense and helping them challenge Galatasaray for domestic supremacy. Then, head to Rome, where you’ll see Nuno Tavares bombing up and down Lazio’s left flank.

Head northwest to Paris, where you’ll see Gonçalo Ramos and João Neves, who, fresh off leading Paris Saint-Germain to a maiden Champions League title, have them on course for a fifth straight Ligue 1 championship as well as another deep continental run. From there, you can hitch a ride across the English Channel to find Bernardo Silva and Rúben Dias, who have helped Manchester City achieve a historic dynasty in the Premier League. Over in Barcelona, you’ll find their ex-teammate João Cancelo helping the Blaugranas push for silverware on all fronts.

To end your journey, it’s only fitting to head to where it all began: Lisbon. Specifically, the Estádio da Luz. Here, you’ll find two homegrown prospects in António Silva and Tomás Araújo challenging each other for a starting spot in central defense alongside Nicolás Otamendi. You’ll also find a number of teenage prospects like Anísio Cabral, José Neto, and Daniel Banjaqui, who, fresh off leading their country to international glory, are now making their presence known at Benfica.

If he plays his cards right, Ricardo Jorge Gomes da Costa Neto might very well be the next Seixal product to become a first-team regular under José Mourinho.

Born on August 26, 2008, Neto was mainly raised in the Casal da Boba housing complex in Amadora, but switched back and forth between living with his mother and father after their divorce. After joining Benfica’s academy in 2018, Neto started off playing for the Águias’ U-11 side twice a week before eventually playing on a more regular basis and ascending the ranks. By the time he made it to the U-15 level, when he started playing for Portugal’s youth teams, Neto had no doubts whatsoever that this was what he wanted to dedicate his life to.

After an impressive 2022-23 season that saw him win the U-15 national championship, Neto would establish himself as one of the most promising center backs in Portuguese football after winning the U-17 Second Division National Championship in 2023-24 before claiming the National Championship with the ‘Juvenis’ the following season. And shortly after this domestic success, Neto got his very first taste of international glory.

  View this post on Instagram   A post shared by FIFA World Cup (@fifaworldcup)

Having played 26 times for Portugal’s youth teams thus far, Neto wrote himself into the history books last season when he helped Portugal win their seventh UEFA European Under-17 Championship in Albania. Six months later, Neto was called up for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar, where he helped lead Seleção das Quinas to victory for the first time.

Since then, Neto has kept his head down and continued work hard in school while also making inroads for both Benfica and Portugal, debuting in the UEFA Youth League as well as making his maiden appearance for Benfica B in the Premier League International Cup. If he can continue progressing at this rate, it will seemingly only be a matter of time before he makes his first team debut under Mourinho.

We caught up with the promising 17-year-old in a Q&A session.

Urban Pitch: You were part of the national teams that won the U-17 European Championship and the U-17 World Cup, and nine of the players from those squads are also with you at Benfica. What is it like growing up in that kind of environment, surrounded by players who have already achieved so much together? How does it influence the level of training and competition on a daily basis?

Ricardo Neto: I think it helps a lot that we’ve all been together for a while, that we all know each other. We already know what each one is going to do on the pitch, we already know how to deal with certain emotions shared by a colleague of ours. And I’m not just talking about Benfica, but the entire national team: I think it was good for us to not change the team so often. That’s what made us win the World Cup and the European Championship: being a family, always being together, that helped a lot in the games. It didn’t come so much at an individual level, but more from the collective.

At Benfica, even at older youth levels and especially when players are younger, teams often take part in anywhere from five to 20 international tournaments. Beyond the experience of traveling and playing football at such a young age, do you think these tournaments help your development? In what ways do they make a difference to a player’s career?

They contribute not only to me, but to all the athletes who develop at Benfica. It helps them to understand the style of football played by other teams from other countries, not just being familiar with Portuguese football, not just being comfortable with one type of league. Perhaps it encourages us to strive harder for bigger things, to explore different places, and not remain in the same place forever.

Benfica gathers its most promising young players from regional academies of the club across the country, bringing them together in Seixal at the U-13 level. For example, you came from the Lisbon area, but Tomás Soares came from Benfica’s Academy in Braga. When you first met all the group as they were entering their teenage years, who stood out the most as the best player?

I think it was Tomás Soares. I already knew him previously after facing him in a U-11 tournament, but when I saw him at the U-14 level, he was different, he was more mature, he imposed himself more in the game, and he was one of the key players in winning the championship that year.

You obviously haven’t had a normal adolescence, you’ve had to let go of some things in order to become a professional footballer. Has it been difficult to make these sacrifices and give up normal childhood experiences?

I think these sacrifices are necessary because in the end, it will pay off. It’s difficult to give up so many things in order to achieve my objectives. I don’t live the life of a normal teenager. I have a very different regime, a more rigid routine, I haven’t been able to go out with friends at any point. My life has been very focused on football.

  View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Ricardo Neto (@ricardoneto.3)

What has it been like entering this season after winning the U-17 EUROs and having to keep your feet on the ground after this triumph?

I think, in a way, the fact that I was champion points many eyes at me, just like everyone else who was playing in the World Cup. But I think that shouldn’t affect our performance level, because football never stops. As much as we’ve won the EUROs and World Cup, that’s not what makes us professional players. It’s what we do in the present. We need to have a winning mindset and keep working, not stop there, we need to always want more.

It seems that Seixal not only knows how to produce great players, but also great men with a lot of maturity. Why do you think that is?

I think Benfica has helped all the athletes a lot with this. The Benfica coaches help athletes not only on a sporting level, but also personally, by helping them grow as people. Whether they like it or not, this affects athletic performance and mentality. I think it’s important for a player to have a good mentality, otherwise, their performance will not be the same.

You may not be a full-fledged professional yet, but reaching a level like the U-17 World Cup takes a lot of sacrifice and effort. Is there a moment of adversity where you had to grow and get back up?

I think it was during the transition from U-14 to U-15. As we were already facing teams with more name recognition, I saw that things were becoming more serious and that I couldn’t continue to have the same behaviors that I had before, I couldn’t have the same routines, it had to be different. I had to do things another way if I was to reach the level that I wanted to reach.

Lastly, what’s the message that you’d like to leave for all of the Benfiquistas around the world?

I’ll be here at this club for a while, trying to help them win a lot of titles, and helping them out in games in a certain manner.