“Because of what my last year has been like, I am very excited about the opportunity to try to make a different year, both individually and to help make a different year collectively. I thank the club, the staff, the technical team and I am very grateful to the gentleman and the whole structure that invited me to continue. Now it’s time to work and try to take a different path, a new story in 2023/24. We have a lot of work. and we have to leave a completely different image of last year,” he told Sporting TV.
Despite facing a number of hurdles last season, including a left knee injury and a spontaneous pneumothorax, the seasoned centre-back thinks he’s doing just fine. “I know the corners of the house. The group is almost the same, the structure too. I feel comfortable here, happy. I feel at home, how Seba feels [Coates]Adam, Nuno [Santos], pot. I found here a transitional phase with the master, practically a new era since the master came. We were part of a group that became national champion after 19 years. I think that my renewal comes largely from there, from what was built at the Academy at the structural level, from the taste for victory and hatred for loss,” he said.
Neto also emphasized that the group is “realizing” that the new season needs to flip the text after 4th place in the 2022/23 season: “Last year was a bit different from what we’ve been doing since this tech team came in, so we all understand that this year should be very different. I hope to help on and off the field. We have a good group and we really hope that everything will go well.”
Finally, the Portuguese admits that, being one of the most experienced players on the team, he will also be useful for the young talents that emerge in the first team. “This is a legacy that remains in our careers. We want to help them as much as possible and we try to ensure that these children can reach their maximum potential with quality. Sometimes it’s not easy, there are several stages, and each They have their own time. Help the elders and tell them to be calm, it’s just football, in a very big club, and take this burden off them.