João Neves: The Heir To Marco Verratti’s Throne at PSG

After leading Palermo to promotion to Serie A, Verratti departed his native Italy and moved to France in 2012, where he excelled in midfield and led PSG to their third domestic championship (as well as their first in 19 years). He did even better in his sophomore season, causing him to be named in the Ligue 1 Team of the 2013-14 season and awarded the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year. Over the next decade, Verratti emerged as one of the finest central midfielders on the continent thanks to his skillful ball control, eye-catching dribbling skills, and superb vision and passing range, helping to dictate the tempo of PSG’s possession as well as chip in defensively. In 2017, FIFA World Cup winner Andrés Iniesta labelled Verratti as his successor, and four years later, Lionel Messi argued that he was on the same level as his previous teammates Xavi and Iniesta. Neymar Jr. corroborated his opinion: “I knew Verratti was an excellent player, but I didn’t know he was so spectacular. A genius. He is one of the best midfielders I have played with, along with Xavi and Iniesta.”

It’s evident that Luis Enrique, former coach of Messi, Neymar, Xavi, and Iniesta at Barça, did not share his ex-players’ opinions. After taking charge of PSG in the summer of 2023, Enrique informed Verratti that he would not be part of his plans and excluded him from PSG’s Champions League squad. Verratti departed the club in September 2023 as the club’s second all-time appearance maker with 416 appearances, behind Jean-Marc Pilorget with 435 (Marquinhos has since surpassed both of them), and joined Qatari side Al-Arabi for a reported fee of €45 million.

It would always be difficult for PSG to find a replacement for the diminutive Italian metronome, with none of their midfield recruits—Kang-in Lee, Manuel Ugarte, and Marco Asensio—managing to fill his creative void. It didn’t matter in the short term as PSG enjoyed a superb debut campaign under Enrique and won the domestic treble, whilst they also reached the Champions League semifinals. But this time, they’ve done one better by returning to the Champions League final after five years. Despite losing all-time leading scorer Kylian Mbappé to Real Madrid on a free transfer last summer, PSG have managed to take their attacking exploits to a new level, scoring 92 Ligue 1 goals (11 more than last season) whilst only conceding 35 goals (two more than last season). One player who has proven instrumental in PSG’s flawless campaign is João Neves.

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