Juventus Is Ready to Welcome Back Neto: His Admiration for Buffon and His Childhood Idol

The chances that Neto will once again don the black-and-white jersey are growing by the day. The Brazilian goalkeeper, born in 1999 and currently a free agent, appears set to take the place of the injured Grabara (the Polish goalkeeper will be out for several months).

Neto has already defended the Old Lady’s goal. We have to go back to the summer of 2015 when, from Florence, he transferred to Turin to join Juventus. He stayed there for two seasons before moving to Valencia. He made only a few appearances (22 in total), partly because the starting goalkeeper for that Juventus team was none other than Gigi Buffon.

Indeed, Gigi Buffon. In an interview with Calcio2000 a few weeks after his arrival at Juventus, the Brazilian spoke about his esteemed colleague as follows: “There’s not much to say about Buffon—we’re talking about an absolute number one. Having him by my side during training definitely helps a lot. Thanks to him, I can certainly grow and improve more quickly. Watching how he prepares before a match—the little things he does to maintain his high level—all of these are valuable lessons that will serve me well.”

In short, he has the utmost respect for Gigi Buffon, but—take note—his idol has always been someone else. Who? A famous Brazilian goalkeeper? No, his father. In that very interview, Neto explained that his idol was actually his father, who was also a goalkeeper. He got his passion for the position from his father: “I admired him when he played,” he remarked.