in summer 2019 half of Europe was fighting to see who would take David Neres. The paddock, by then, had established itself as one of the stars of Ajax who reached the semifinals of the Champions League with De Jong, de Ligt, Ziyech or Van de Beek. At the time followed by Atlético de Madrid, PSG or AC Milan, now the brazilian will dazzle the fans with his dribbling at the ukrainian Shakhtarif the war allows it.
Jump to Europe very young
Neres arrived at Ajax in 2016 with just 19 after having played just 16 games with São Paulo in the Brazilian league. The Brazilian was combining games with the first team and the ‘ajacied’ subsidiary during his first two seasons. His explosion came in the 2017/2018 season where he scored 14 goals and distributed 12 assists in 40 games under Erik Ten Hag. For the following season, where they would fall in the Champions League semifinal against Pochettino’s Tottenham, Neres repeated the same numbers, but this time in 50 games.
It was from the 2019/20 season that his status within the club began to decline. In that season he barely played 20 games in all competitions, where he scored 6 goals and distributed 2 assists. For 20/21 the downturn was more noticeable where he played 43 games, scoring 8 goals and 6 assists. Very low numbers that had nothing to do with the Nereo that surprised Europe just two years ago. In January of this year his move to Shakhtar Donetsk was confirmed for just 12 million euros.
Nereus Profile
Despite his downfall, Neres is still very young, he is barely 24 years old, and his projection still has some way to go. His game stands out for his pace in the race, being a sprinter and knowing how to change the pace in the trot; and his dribbling, the main characteristic of Brazilian wingers in recent generations. His pass is another of his qualities. His wide vision of the game and mental quickness make him a player capable of planting himself in three quarters of the field with ease. With the signing of him to the miners he will have the opportunity to redeem himself to shine again, as other Brazilians did in the Ukrainian league before making the leap to a great European like Willian or Douglas Costabut for now the war will prevent it.
