Luis Neto is a famous Portuguese footballer who plays as central defender. Over a long career, he has been repeatedly drafted into the ranks of the national team of Portugal. Since 2013, he is known to Russian football fans as a player of the St. Petersburg “Zenith”.
Luis Carlos Novo Neto, this is the full name of the football player, is a pupil of Portuguese football. Born May 26, 1988 in the small town of Povua di Varzine, located in Portugal. The Nope family was football. The father of the future defender played for an amateur team, and his uncle played for the local club Varzim. Parenting in a sports family from childhood instilled in Neto a love of football. At a young age, Neto dreamed of playing for the Dortmund Borussia. This team was one of the best in Europe in the 90s of the XX century. I won the European Cup.
The beginning of a football career
The Portuguese are called "European Brazilians." Many of the children in childhood want to become outstanding technical attackers, but there are also those who from the early years choose the role of defenders. Among these children was Luis Neto. Karlush Novo began to receive his first football education at the age of seven when he entered the children's football school at the Academy of the Varzim Club. The defender spent eight years in this team, playing for the youth squad. In 2006, the budding player signed his first professional contract with the team that raised him.
Club “Varzim” did not play in the elite division of the Portuguese Championship, so Luis Neto spent the first five seasons of his playing career at an adult level in Segunda. In total, the defender took part in 53 matches, marked by two goals scored. In the season 2006 - 2007, his first season for the club, he never once entered the field. In the next two championships in the Segund, he held five and eight meetings, respectively. Netu managed to gain a foothold only in 2009, as indicated by statistics in the form of twelve matches held for the club. By this time, Neto had gained experience and the next year had a full season, entering the field in 28 matches. It was at this time that Neto scored his first goals in adult football.
It is difficult for a player playing the position of a central defender to demonstrate his technical equipment, however, Netu was also creative in defending his goal. The footballer's work on the field was visible to many scouts representing teams from the Portuguese elite. In 2011, Luis Neto received an invitation from the Nacional club, playing in the top division of the Portuguese Championship. In the season 2011 - 2012 Carlos strengthened the defensive position of “Nacional”, contributed to the final seventh place of the team in the standings. In the domestic championship, the defender played 25 matches, went on the field six times as part of the country's Cup tournament (once scored a goal) and played twice in the League Cup.
The successful season in the Portuguese Championship was the initial stage in the professional biography of the athlete. After Nacional, Nope went to conquer foreign teams. The first country where Neto left from Portugal was Italy.
Career Nope in foreign clubs
In 2012, Neto signed a contract with the Italian Siena. By the standards of Italian football, the team was difficult to rank among the top clubs. However, the game experience, the football knowledge that Netu gained in a country where the best defenders of the world are performing, is priceless. In “Siena” Neto played 20 games in the Italian Series - A, once marked a goal scored. The defender added two more games to his Italian career in the Italian Cup. As a player in Italians, Neto first received an invitation to his country’s national team.
The next stage in the football career of Luis Neto was the domestic “Zenith”. On February 1, 2013, having paid an amount of 7 million euros for the transfer, the team from the city on the Neva received a Portuguese defender in their location. Since then, Luis Neto has been a Zenit player to this day.
Over his career at Zenit, Neto has already managed to play more than a hundred matches. He defended the colors of the St. Petersburg club and in thirty-five European cup meetings. Not all seasons in Russia turned out equal for the defender. Sometimes game recessions were outlined, the football player was recovering from injuries for a long time.
In “Zenith” Neto won his first trophies at a high level. In the season 2014 - 2015 he became the champion of Russia, the next year he won the country's cup. Twice he lifted the Russian Super Cup above his head (in 2015 and 2016).
It should be noted that Netu spent the season 2017 - 2018 in Turkey, where he played for the local Fenerbahçe. An agreement with the Turks was reached through a temporary lease from Zenith.
