Liverpool Opinion: Reds should beat off competition for David Neres this summer
According to the Express, Liverpool are the latest club to have entered the race to sign David Neres from Ajax in the summer, with manager Jurgen Klopp reportedly open to making new signings in the transfer market in a bid to bolster his squad even further.
The 22-year-old Brazilian has already attracted interest from a host of Premier League clubs, including Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool’s bitter Merseyside rivals Everton, while Ajax reportedly rejected a bid from Borussia Dortmund back in January. (h/t Express)
The Express also understands that Ajax are unlikely to part ways with Neres on the cheap, given that he has a contract at the Amsterdam Arena until the summer of 2022. The Dutch giants are set to lose Frenkie de Jong to Barcelona at the end of the season in a £65million deal, while skipper Matthijs de Ligt might also complete a move to one of Europe’s elite clubs.
Neres has put himself on the radar of some of the top Premier League clubs with his scintillating run of form for Erik Ten Hag’s side this season, playing a key role in Ajax’s fairy-tale run to the semi-finals of the Champions League.
The 22-year-old, who earned his first senior international cap for Brazil against the Czech Republic last month, has registered a staggering 12 goals and 15 assists in all competitions this season, and it is not difficult to see why so many top clubs are circling around him like sharks.
The 22-year-old, who joined Ajax from Sao Paulo for £13million back in 2016, has established himself as one of the club’s prized assets over the last couple of seasons.
A technically-gifted and tactically-versatile player, who is capable of playing anywhere in the attacking third, Neres has a typical Brazilian touch to his game. His low centre-of-gravity gives him the advantage of exceptional close control and good body balance, which allows him to run at his opposite number with the ball virtually glued to his feet.
Noted for his blistering pace and jaw-dropping trickery on the ball, the youngster often drives past defenders with effortless ease, leaving them for dead with his ability to dribble at pace and change directions in the blink of an eye.
One would expect him to get bullied off the ball by stronger opposition but the Brazilian uses his upper body strength to hold the ball up with his back to goal, drawing the defenders out from their positions and creating space for his teammates to exploit.
One of the hallmarks of Neres’ game is his fluent passing. The Brazilian is not only adept at moving the ball around quickly in the final third but he also has the ability to turn the game on its head with delightful through balls and key passes.
He is a very mobile player, meaning that he constantly keeps on shifting positions in the final third, looking for those half-spaces between the full-backs and the centre-backs. To add to that, Neres is never afraid to have a crack on goal from range and he has the awareness to get into the box to finish off chances as well.
Pace, trickery, agility, sharpness, passing, vision and tactical intelligence- Neres has got everything in abundance, and few would back against him taking the Premier League by storm should a move to English football materialize for the talented Brazilian this summer.
He has demonstrated his goalscoring abilities against the likes of Juventus and Real Madrid in the Champions League this season and there is no reason why he cannot make a massive impact in the Premier League.
To put things into perspective, Liverpool would have to do exceptionally well to strike a deal for Neres this summer, with so many top clubs interested in the 22-year-old. However, they would undoubtedly bag a massive coup if they do manage to bring him to Anfield.
The Reds might just fall short of Man City in the title race this season by the finest of margins but they should look to build on their successful campaign by bringing in more players.
Much of the attacking workload has been shouldered by their prolific front trio but it has become quite apparent from how things have shaped up this season that the Reds just need that extra bit in their attack to get their hands on silverware next term.
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And Davis Neres is more than capable of adding creativity to a Liverpool midfield that has often lacked the incisiveness and the cutting edge to create chances. They have relied heavily on their full-backs to create those chances for their forwards but the arrival of Neres should add another dimension to their attack and help them improve massively as a team.
