 Neres withBrazil U20 in 2017 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | David Neres Campos[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1997-03-03)3 March 1997 (age 28)[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | São Paulo, Brazil | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)[2] | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Winger | ||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||
Current team | Napoli | ||||||||||||||||
| Number | 7 | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| 2007–2016 | São Paulo | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 2016 | São Paulo | 8 | (3) | ||||||||||||||
| 2017 | Jong Ajax | 5 | (3) | ||||||||||||||
| 2017–2022 | Ajax | 121 | (37) | ||||||||||||||
| 2022 | Shakhtar Donetsk | 0 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2022–2024 | Benfica | 55 | (11) | ||||||||||||||
| 2024– | Napoli | 38 | (4) | ||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | |||||||||||||||||
| 2017 | Brazil U20 | 9 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2020 | Brazil U23 | 2 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2019– | Brazil | 8 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 21:56, 22 November 2025 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals as of 18 October 2023 | |||||||||||||||||
David Neres Campos (Brazilian Portuguese:[ˈdejvidˈnɛɾis]; born 3 March 1997) is a Brazilian professionalfootballer who plays as awinger forSerie A clubNapoli and theBrazil national team.
Neres is a graduate ofSão Paulo's youth system and was promoted to the first team in 2016. He joinedAjax in January 2017. At Ajax, Neres established himself as one of the best young wingers in Europe, after winning a domestic double and being an instrumental part of Ajax's firstUEFA Champions League semi-final appearance in 22 years, in a breakthrough2018–19 season. The following seasons were marked by continuous injuries, resulting in Neres playing a limited number of games and declining in performances, leading him to move toShakhtar Donetsk. Due to the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine that occurred in February, he then transferred toBenfica four month later, where he won the domestic double in his debut season. After two years in the Portuguese club, he joined the Italian side Napoli, winning Serie A in his first season.
After representing Brazil at various youth levels, Neres was called up to the full international team for the first time in March 2019, and was part of the squad that won the2019 Copa América.
Born inSão Paulo, Neres joinedSão Paulo's youth setup in September 2007, aged ten.[3] In February 2016, after being regularly used inthat year'sU-20 Copa Libertadores, he suffered ashoulder injury which kept him sidelined for months.
Neres was promoted to the main squad by managerRicardo Gomes in August 2016. He made his first team – andSérie A debut – on 17 October, coming on as a second-halfsubstitute forRobson in a 2–1 away win againstFluminense.[4]
On 22 October 2016 Neres scored his first goal, netting the last in a 2–0 home win againstPonte Preta.[5] Fourteen days later he scored his second goal, netting the second in a 4–0 home routing of local rival Corinthians.[6]
On 30 January 2017, Neres moved to the Dutch clubAjax for a reported fee of €12 million.[7]
Neres made his debut forAjax againstHeracles Almelo, on 26 February 2017. In that season, he managed to get 3 goals in 8 league matches. He also featured in anAjax team that went to theUEFA Europa League final that year.
Neres managed to get 14 goals and 13 assists in 32 league matches, making him the most valuable player of Ajax that year, having scored the most goals and assists combined.Neres himself sees the game againstFeyenoord,[8] on 22 October 2017, as his breakthrough, where he racked up three assists in a 4–1 away win.
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In his third season, Neres scored his first official European goal againstStandard Liège in the second leg of the third qualifying round of theChampions League. In that year, Neres wasn't guaranteed a starting spot up until February. Because of this, there were rumours that Neres wanted to leave. In January,Guangzhou Evergrande made a £36.9 million bid on Neres,[9] but Ajax ultimately refused, because they wanted to keep the team together to win prizes that year and make it far in theUEFA Champions League. In the second leg in the round of 16 of theUEFA Champions League, in a memorable game againstReal Madrid, Neres scored the second goal to give Ajax the lead on aggregate, and the Dutch side eventually won the tie by a margin of 5–3, thus knocking the three-time defending European champions out of the competition.[10]
On 31 March 2019, Neres scored the winning goal and picked up a penalty in thechampionship clash againstPSV, to win 3–1.[11] He also scored an important equaliser against Juventus at home to secure hopes for Ajax's semi-final qualification in the first leg at home.
Neres won his firstEredivisie title as Ajax finished three points ahead of rivals PSV. Neres also won his firstKNVB Cup when Ajax won 4–0 againstWillem II in the final.[12]
Despite reported interest from the likes ofManchester United andAtlético Madrid, Neres signed a new contract with Ajax on 7 August 2019 that runs through 2023. The deal added a further year to his prior deal that was set to expire in 2022.[13]
At the start of the 2020–21 season, Neres came back after his injury. On 22 November, he scored his first goal in more than a year. Since Ajax acquiredMohamed Daramy andSteven Berghuis as wingers at the beginning of the season, competition for Neres increased, as a result of which he was often no longer included in the starting lineup.
On 11 January 2022 it was reported that Neres was sold toUkrainian Premier League sideShakhtar Donetsk for a reported fee of €15 million, which could potentially run up to €17 million with bonuses.[14][15] On 14 January, Ajax confirmed that the transfer had been completed.[16] On 24 February 2022 following the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, a video was shared online of various Brazilian men's footballers pleading for help from the Brazilian government to help them flee the country.[17] On 1 March 2022 it was reported that the Brazilian players had successfully made it toRomania, from where they travelled home.UEFA presidentAleksander Čeferin was personally involved in helping to facilitate the return to safety.[18]
On 20 June 2022, Neres signed a five-year contract withPrimeira Liga sideBenfica, for a reported fee of €15.3 million.[19] The net cost of the transaction was only €300,000, with both Benfica and Shakhtar settling an agreement for the latter's debt, due to the transfer of compatriot and former teammatePedrinho, which whom Shakhtar had only paid €3 million of a total of €18 million.[20]
He made his debut for the club on 2 August, providing two assists toGonçalo Ramos in the 4–1 home win overMidtjylland in the 1st leg of the2022–23 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round.[21] On 23 August, Neres scored his first goal for the club and provided an assist in the 3–0 home win overDynamo Kyiv in the 2nd leg of the2022–23 UEFA Champions League play-off round, helping his side qualify to the tournament.[22] Seven days later, he scored his first Primeira Liga goal in a 3–2 home victory overPaços de Ferreira, reaching six goal contributions in six games.[23]
On 21 August 2024, Neres signed withNapoli inSerie A.[24]On 6 October 2024 he came off the bench to score his first Napoli goal against Como.
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On 8 March 2019, Neres received his first senior team call-up by coachTite for theBrazil national football team, replacing an injuredVinícius Júnior, for the friendlies against Panama and the Czech Republic to be held later that month. Neres made his senior team debut againstCzech Republic on 26 March 2019, in the 63rd minute as a replacement forRicharlison. In that game, he made an assist and produced a backheel which led to a goal, contributing to two goals in the 3–1 win againstCzech Republic.[25]
On 12 July 2020, Neres' girlfriend, German model Kira Winona, gave birth to their first child. Their daughter is named Hope Winona Neres.
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | Continental | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| São Paulo | 2016 | Série A | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3[b] | 0 | 11 | 3 |
| Jong Ajax | 2016–17 | Eerste Divisie | 4 | 2 | — | — | — | 4 | 2 | |||
| 2017–18 | Eerste Divisie | 1 | 1 | — | — | — | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Total | 5 | 3 | — | — | — | 5 | 3 | |||||
| Ajax | 2016–17 | Eredivisie | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4[c] | 0 | — | 12 | 3 | |
| 2017–18 | Eredivisie | 32 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 3[d] | 0 | — | 37 | 14 | ||
| 2018–19 | Eredivisie | 29 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 15[e] | 3 | — | 50 | 12 | ||
| 2019–20 | Eredivisie | 12 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 8[e] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 6 | |
| 2020–21 | Eredivisie | 25 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 10[f] | 3 | — | 39 | 8 | ||
| 2021–22 | Eredivisie | 15 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5[e] | 1 | 1[g] | 0 | 22 | 4 | |
| Total | 121 | 37 | 13 | 3 | 45 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 180 | 47 | ||
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 2021–22 | Ukrainian Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | |
| Benfica | 2022–23 | Primeira Liga | 31 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 12[e] | 4 | 2[h] | 1 | 48 | 12 |
| 2023–24 | Primeira Liga | 24 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 9[i] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 5 | |
| Total | 55 | 11 | 5 | 1 | 21 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 83 | 17 | ||
| Napoli | 2024–25 | Serie A | 28 | 2 | 2 | 1 | — | — | 30 | 3 | ||
| 2025–26 | Serie A | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5[e] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 2 | |
| Total | 38 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 5 | ||
| Career total | 225 | 57 | 19 | 5 | 69 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 324 | 75 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil | 2019 | 7 | 1 |
| 2023 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 8 | 1 | |
Scores and results list Brazil's goal tally first.
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 9 June 2019 | Estádio Beira-Rio,Porto Alegre, Brazil |  Honduras | 5–0 | 7–0 | Friendly |
São Paulo[28]
Ajax[28]
Benfica
Napoli
Brazil
Individual
|  | |
