Luis Neto is, of course, not a football player at the level of the eminent namesake Luis Figo, but he managed to say his word during his playing career. At the moment, he is one of the most useful legionnaires in the St. Petersburg “Zenith” - however, he played not only for the Russian team. From this article you will find out what this central defender managed to achieve, for which clubs he played, what role he played in the Portuguese national team and so on. Luis Neto is a very interesting player whose career was quite impressive and diverse.
Carier start
Luis Neto was born May 26, 1988 in Portugal, where he began to get involved in football. Already at the age of ten, he ended up at the football academy of the small club Varzim, where he spent his entire childhood. There he studied all the skills, got practice before signing a professional contract with this club in 2006. However, initially no one considered him as a promising or promising football player - his level was far from the highest. Therefore, in his first season for the adult team, “Varzima”, he spent only one single match. In subsequent years, the situation did not improve much - Nope played only 27 matches in three years, which was extremely small. He was already 22 years old when he was allowed to join the club - only in the 2010/2011 season he began to go out from the first minutes of the match and quickly showed himself from the best side. He played more games in one season than in the previous four years, scoring two more goals. But the complete lack of trust in the club’s leadership in the past led to the fact that Luis Neto refused to renew the contract with the club. As a result, in 2011, the 23-year-old defender moved to Nacional.
Going to Nacional
From the very first matches for Nacional, Luis Neto, whose biography says that from that moment the player’s life made a sharp turn, showed that this club was just a starting step for him to get into a stronger team. There he spent only one season, played 32 matches, in which he scored one goal. And immediately received an offer from the Italian “Siena” - this meant that the defender will participate in one of the strongest European championships. Nacional, of course, received compensation for the player in the amount of almost four million euros. However, Luis Neto is a footballer who will never rest on his laurels, so in Italy he did not stay long.
Performances in Italy
In the new club, Neto did not even have time to play the season - he arrived in the summer, and left already in the winter. The fact is that the Russian club Zenit became interested in it, and everyone knows that in Russia the schedule of games is very different from that in other countries. Therefore, Nope, having played only 22 matches for Siena, decided to move to St. Petersburg, where he was offered a stunning salary. Siena also did not remain deprived - it received six and a half million euros of compensation. And so he ended up in the club for which he now stands, Portuguese defender Luis Neto. “Zenith” saw him as a wholly-owned base player, and the Portuguese still copes with their tasks perfectly.
The game for Zenit
Even though the Russian championship is not one of the five strongest European championships, Zenit is constantly taking part in the Champions League, while under No. it even won one championship, one cup and two super cups - these were the first trophies for the Portuguese in their careers. To date, he played for the St. Petersburg club three and a half seasons, having entered the field 111 times. Now Nope is 28 years old, that is, he has reached the peak of his career, but he is not considered a sufficiently strong footballer. He does not even receive a call to the national team, although he continues his constant game practice at Zenit. His contract is valid until 2019, but it is likely that it will be extended. Of course, do not forget that this summer Zenit acquired Ivan Novoseltsev, who is considered one of the most prominent Russian defenders of recent times. However, Nope can always save his versatility, as he can act on the right flank of defense, and in place of the defensive midfielder.
Team appearances
In the Portuguese national team, Neto clearly does not play leading roles - he made his debut only in 2013, when he was already 25 years old. But they called him to the national team back in 2012 - they simply did not let him out on the field, but kept him in reserve. Neto won his first match against Ecuador, where the Portuguese lost 2: 3. As a result, he went to the 2014 World Cup, but sat all three matches on the bench, as he was only fourth in the center of defense - even after Pepe’s removal, he didn’t make Brun Alves a pair, but Ricardo Costa. As a result, Neto did not go to Euro 2016 in principle, and at the moment he has played only eleven matches for the national team. The latter was in November 2015, when Luis came out at the base for a friendly match with the Luxembourg team. So far, Nope is too young to finish his career in the national team, so he is just waiting for his chance, although the probability is extremely small, because even after leaving Ricardo Costa, the Portuguese have another substitute player - Jose Fonte.