This time last year, Ruben Neves was in the final negotiations for a contract that would lift him into the super-elite of football’s earners.
The midfielder had the real promise of senior club silverware, too, something lacking in a distinguished career spread across the top division of his native Portugal, with Porto, and in the upper tier of England, with Wolverhampton Wanderers. He was about to sign for Al Hilal, regular champions of a transforming Saudi Pro League.
In his early 20s, Neves used to be praised as being the best footballer in the English Championship, so powerfully did he galvanise Wolves to promotion to the Premier League in 2017/18.
He was deemed a little unlucky, that summer, not to be included in Portugal’s World Cup plans. But Neves was still only 21, and there would be many opportunities ahead.
Euro 2024, where Portugal begin their campaign on Tuesday against the Czech Republic, may be his best yet. Neves is at his third major tournament, hopes to pass 50 caps while there, and to add another medal to a highly decorated year.
Yet, pending his first appearance in Germany, he is aware of muttered scepticism about how close he, at 27, can truly be to his peak. The doubts stem from his having left one of the leading European domestic leagues to move to the Gulf.
And he is among a significant group of players at Euro 2024 hearing those doubts. Had he tuned into coverage of Sunday evening’s Serbia versus England match, he would have picked up a prevailing – though by no means unanimous – tone that questions how sharp, how well-conditioned, how competitive players who have spent the past 10 months in Saudi Arabia can be.
There were certainly dismissive voices across the media on Monday about Neves’ Al
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