According to a report in Portuguese newspaper O Jogo, Arsene Wenger sent ex-Arsenal striker, Luis Borte Morte, to scout Porto’s Ruben Neves last night.
The 18-year-old defensive midfielder, who is the youngest player to ever captain a side in the Champions League, is a fixture in Porto’s first team squad and has a €40 million release clause that the Gunners are apparently interested in activating in January.
It’s suggested that Boa Morte, the Ian Wright look-alike who was on Arsenal’s books between 1997-99, isn’t the only representative from the Emirates to watch Neves in recent weeks.
Alas, Luis’ trip to the Estádio do Dragão wasn’t exactly fruitful with Sport Witness claiming Neves’ average performances in the two previous games led him to be benched for the full 90 minutes yesterday.
Given our current paucity of options in the centre of the park (apparently there’s an injury crisis…who knew?) it’s hardly a surprise that we’re being linked with ‘new’ names, however, at 18-years-old you wouldn’t finger Neves as an immediate solution…unless he’s top, top, top, top, top quality.
Maybe he is. You can Neves say Neves.
Natural leader, Porto won’t let him leave
He’s got a release clause 🙂
I hope this one doesn’t drag on and on..it would be the Neves Ending Story.
but with transfers these days you Neves know do you
damm right, already getting on my neves (lame i know)
As long as we Neves give up, there is always hope
He would be a sound inevestment
When quizzed about the apparent interest from Arsenal, the midfielder said – “well i Neves”
They say he is an artist and that the pitch is his caneves
Neves Say Neves,
Again
Wow they do look like.
Know nothing about him… but 18 and captain of Porto..even temporarily. .. is pretty impressive. You can assume he has potential to be a great
what about Krystian Bielik?
I am neves he won’t make it here
From watching a few of Porto’s games in the Champions League, I think he could be a good fit for Arsenal – tidy on the ball, great vision, small in stature – tick’s all the boxes!
I wouldn’t say he is a bonafide CDM, but he would be a welcome acquisition to this teams midfield. And looking at our rival’s increasingly younger squads, I certainly wouldn’t mind an 18-year old with lots of first-team, Champions League and even Captaincy experience.
Hopefully this is a story to watch!
We already signed him, silly.
😉
Should have bought Schniederlin when we had the chance!
We could have but you’d have been even pissier about it when he or coquelin pulled a Diarra and left before the end of the season due to lack of opportunity…
schneiderlin wouldn’ve been the ideal solution. probably could’ve paired him up with coq, santi, or ramsey if needed. given he’s 26, coq is 23 and bielik (if he’s still in the picture as dm) is 17, we would’ve been covered in the dm position for the next 7 years. now wenger is going to try to find a bargain in the january transfer window. we all know how that turns out (cough…kim kallstrom).
Nacho Monreal suggests that you should eat your socks.
Gabriel agrees.
Face too, I hope?
Faxe! Not Face. Stupid autocorrect.
I think you guys mean Xabi Alonso for 12m 5 years ago?
Yeah that’s our biggest worry that players leave us due to lack of playing time!!
Here we are scrapping the barrel in terms of fit players.
If players indeed leave us due to lack of playing time that is a good thing – it means we didn’t have an injury crisis!
People need to get over repeating out dated cliché – sorry nothing personal.
Surprised this is so disliked on here, can’t see how that wouldn’t have been a solid move for us…
I havent observed Neves but a €40m release clause is an allusion to just how much Porto think of him. He canptained in CL? Sounds like our own Wilshere back in the day.
I dont think his age should be a factor when speculating on his fitness for purpose. At 18 years, Fabregas, Neymar, Messi were phenomenal. But i guess thats where “top top top top quality” clause swings in. Neves say Neves.
A 40 million release clause doesn’t mean anything about the quality of the player. It doesn’t mean that they won’t be willing to sell for 10 or 20 million, just that they definitely will sell for 40 (except if they are Liverpool). I wouldn’t be surprised if Porto put that kind of clause on every teenager they sign or promote to their first team. After all, their business model is based around making a profit on players, and occasionally some of them may actually develop quickly enough to be worth that kind of money, so it would be a shame… Read more »
Porto and Sporting have a history of being ridiculous about player valuations and reluctance to sell.
i loved in him in…… Football Manager
in real life i’ve obviously never seen him
he should be good enough, at least
Boa Morte or Neves? ?
You sure you’re not mixed up here and we haven’t sent a scout to look at Luis Boa Morte??
Read some Guardian article saying Gilberto offered his services. Reckon we’re seriously considering it
39 years old and still willing to grab some boots for the Arsenal…
Fuck it, I’d say yes.
Gilberto offered to be ascout, dude! Not play CDM for Arsenal.
He has great composure. Neves of steel.
*grabs coat, exits room*
“You can Neves say Neves.”…….*grinning slow clap*
Honestly don’t believe us spending €40m on a teenager. But Neves is an interesting prospect and has been featuring regularly in the first team for two years now. They are expecting him to become a star player for Portuguese national team in a few years.
Well, he was a complete beast on FM15 and is still great on FM16.
But then again, Sanogo was a world-beater on that game back in the days …
Blogs wrote the news piece with the sole objective of the last line!
I didn’t actually write it at all 😉
Only 18? Sounds like a perfect candidate for our ‘play em young and make them injury-prone’ programme 🙂
Seriously though, that’s a lot of money for a guy only one year older than Bielik. I’d rather spend that much money on Bender, Xhaka or Carvalho.
Agree with this. Haven’t seen Neves but I assume he’s more of a ‘cultured’ DM (what with being Mediterranean) and would rather have someone like Bender, who is more about energy and discipline than being a pass-master.
Borte Morte Saughte Midfielder…e.
He’s great for me on Fifa.
Like really good!
Guys… Luis Borte Morte? Hahaha… :)))
All I know is that this guy progresses pretty well on Fifa lol
He has the potential to be absolutely exceptional, and has been playing really well for them both domestically and in the champion’s league. And the really remarkable thing about him is that he seems to almost never make mistakes. He doesn’t play like someone who is 18 at all. He is a bit of an interesting player because he isn’t a destroyer and he isn’t really a Pirlo type deep-lying playmaker either. If you compare him to anyone it’s probably Sergio Busquets. He has the same perfect positional sense and understated way of just doing what needs to be done… Read more »
If this works we may neves have to get our coq out in public again ?
I would neves pass on an opportunity to proudly display our Coq to the public.
A beast of a player in Football Manager 2015 and 2016 😉
Schneiderlin is not worth the money. Neves is an exciting prospect but he is still young and performances can be erratic. Depending how much Porot may ask for, he is also cup tied. I personally felt we should have taken a serious look at Illaramendi from Real who was sold back to Sociedad for lack of opportunity at the Bernebau. He is 25yrs and has the ability both to playmake/hold the ball ala Santi and cover DM in a more limited role if need be. He isn’t cup tied and should not cost too much relatively (Sociedad may want to… Read more »
Porot? Well as long as we’re not dealing with Poirot, I think we’ll be fine.
Cant believe were in this situation again . Fucking bollox to it all .
Seen him play quite a few times, this kid is going to be a GREAT player in time. He is currently a pretty good player and I would say he would be ahead of arteta and maybe flamini if only he had previous prem experience. I see him being literally a bang on CM but think he could evolve in the future into a Fabregas kind of player…hopefully without being a judas! Let’s see where he ends up anyway
Luis Boa Morte what are you doing here? And not in a racist way! he’s a celebrity, they’re happy to see him.
Luis Boa Morte a striker? I don’t think so. More a winger from what I recall.