“Neres only reaps what he sows,” says the one who released him in São Paulo

Junior Chávare remembers the solid work he did with the understated playmaker. Self-esteem is revealed during adolescence. And the fake shy guy who led the locker room

David Neres It is the name of the moment not only in Portugal, yet the classic among Benfica that it Porto Club Which he helped solve, but also in Brazil, where he returns through the huge door of the Brazilian national team for the duels with Venezuela and Uruguay to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.

Bula Junior Chavarri, São Paulo’s youth football director in 2014, when Neres was 16, remembers what it was like working with a young player who had outstanding talent but physique – and character – still developing. He says: “Today he reaps only what he sowed early.”

“Doubt me David Neres It was the physical issue, facing strong players, and whether he would be a player who could really handle the professional game, but then we clearly realized, with just over a month of training, that he had a lot of potential for it, so much so that he was immediately enrolled in Sao Paulo Cup 2015.

“Then, we had an extensive redraft in the under-20 team with the arrival of Andre Jardin, and we immediately promoted him to that category, and very specific work was done with him,” recalls the current executive director of football at Ferroviaria de Araracora. It works largely on the issue of power, authority, and confronting competitors.

“He was always professional and had a lot of self-esteem, a lot of confidence, and that was a factor that surprised me in a positive way,” he says. “He always wanted the best in his career, charted his future wisely and knew how to follow the best path on and off the field,” Chavarri continued.

Off the field, “he was always more interested in himself,” says the coach. “But we joked and said that he was the fake shy one, because he had the freedom to speak both on the pitch and internally, he would take his position, and in the dressing room he was always a player who spoke up when needed.” .

“After all the successes he spent at Ajax until he arrived at Benfica and again with the national team, he is only reaping what he sowed,” sums up Chavarri, who is in charge at São Paulo, of helping to develop athletes such as Eder Militao and Antoni and before that, at Gremio, There are guys like Alex Telles or Everton Cipolinia.