The surprising secret behind João Neves’ aerial power | OneFootball

Trained by Luis Castro at Benfica, João Neves (21 years old), a midfielder for Paris Saint-Germain, impresses with his dominance in aerial duels despite his stature. In L’Équipe, the FC Nantes coach (a former trainer of Neves) details the reasons for this success, highlighting extraordinary athletic qualities and exceptional game reading. The source emphasizes the intelligence of his way of attacking spaces.

Castro “I said when Joao arrived that he would be one of the most dominant players in the aerial domain”

Luis Castro is not amazed out of nostalgia: he describes a player whose evolution confirms a mechanism already visible in him from a young age. João Neves, 1.74 m, obviously does not have the height of the control towers in Ligue 1. Yet, his strength lies elsewhere. His former trainer explains that he has built himself on a rare athletic base for a midfielder: dense quadriceps, locked abs, explosive footing that allows him to leap very quickly without losing balance. But above all, and this is where Castro insists, Neves possesses this trajectory reading that makes the difference: he attacks the space a fraction of a second before the defender, sees movements unfold, and times his jump perfectly. It is less a physical duel than a mental one, where timing becomes a weapon. It is this intelligence of movement that allows him today, at PSG, to regularly outplay players measuring 1.86 m or more, and to become a completely unexpected aerial threat.

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