{"id":2838,"date":"2017-10-09T18:44:27","date_gmt":"2017-10-09T17:44:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ajaxdaily.com\/?p=2838"},"modified":"2017-10-09T18:44:27","modified_gmt":"2017-10-09T17:44:27","slug":"david-neres-ajax-jack-box","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ajaxdaily.com\/2017\/david-neres-ajax-jack-box\/","title":{"rendered":"David Neres – Ajax’ Jack in the box"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Neres was born in Perus, a picturesque neighbourhood in the northern part of S\u00e3o Paulo where he played on his local neighbourhood team before joining the S\u00e3o Paulo FC academy at the age of 10. He was frequently a top scorer in the youth categories at the storied Brazilian club and particularly impressed during the u20 Copa Libertadores. Neres played nominally for S\u00e3o Paulo’s first team before Ajax decided to sign him for a massive fee, and he has shown his immense potential in his first nine months in Europe.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/ajaxdailydotcom\/status\/853901430670884865<\/p>\n

Marc Overmars’ ambitions to move Ajax a rung higher in the European football food-chain saw the Amsterdammers splashing the cash last season when signing Hakim Ziyech and Neres. The latter was an unknown quantity from Brazil who was signed for \u20ac12 million in a deal that could even rise to \u20ac15 million over time. Months into his first foray into European football, it has become obvious why Overmars was willing to part with such a sum to lure the Brazilian to Amsterdam.<\/p>\n

Ajax sold Anwar El Ghazi to Lille in January, Bertrand Traor\u00e9 was at the Africa Cup of Nations and V\u00e1clav \u010cern\u00fd injured, meaning that 17-year-old Justin Kluivert was Peter Bosz’ only option on the right flank. The young Dutchman impressed and earned a permanent promotion to the first team of Ajax, while Neres – who joined on the final day of the winter transfer window – was given time to get settled. The 20-year-old Brazilian was slight in size but possessed a penchant for arm-swinging and arm-gyrating dance moves in training, as he began to impress then-manager Peter Bosz.<\/p>\n

Neres made his debut for Ajax at the end of February, coming off the bench against Heerenveen, but would open his account in Europe in April. Ziyech had played a cross for Kluivert to tap in his first goal for Ajax away to Excelsior just before the international break, and repeated the same trick for Neres to tap into an empty net in a 2-1 home win in De Klassieker against Feyenoord. Ajax were in the midst of a period of squad rotation with mid-week games in the Eredivisie and latter stages of the Europa League, which saw Neres accrue more playing time three days later against AZ Alkmaar. During the match, he threaded a ball to Traor\u00e9, who was fouled in the box for a penalty.<\/p>\n

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Neres with a 75% pass accuracy in the final third, 4 shots, 2 on target, 1 goal and 2\/5 takeons. Starting to settle well since his move.<\/p>\n

— Chaka Simbeye (@chaka_simbeye) April 16, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n