Now, it would probably be a step too far to call Norberto Neto Brazil’s answer to Steve Harper.
But Barcelona’s benchwarming bridesmaid has made a career out of sitting on the sidelines. In recent years anyway. A case in point; He’s made more than ten league appearances in just two of the last seven seasons.
And, after providing back-up for the legendary Gianluigi Buffon at Juventus, Neto has spent the previous three years performing a broadly similar role at Barcelona with the oft-impenetrable Marc-Andre Ter Stegen firmly established as the Blaugrana’s number one.
Neto has started a grand total 11 La Liga matches since joining from Valencia in the summer of 2019. On all but one of those occasions, Ter Stegen has been unavailable due to injury.
Is Norberto Neto heading to the Premier League?
Now, the fact that Barcelona have a £30 million goalkeeper sat on the bench should tell you all you need to know about how the cash-strapped Catalan giants have gone about their business in recent seasons. If this is how Barca do things, no wonder they’re over a billion euros in debt.
With one year left on his contract, Barcelona will consider offers in the region of £12 million these days.
Like Philippe Coutinho, Arturo Vidal, Luis Suarez, Ivan Rakitic and co, Neto looks set to become the latest in a long line of expensively-acquired players to leave the Camp Nou on vastly reduced terms.
According to Sport, there are currently two Premier League clubs fluttering their eyelashes in Neto’s direction. Frank Lampard’s Everton and Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa.
But the report adds that Neto is prioritising a club capable of offering him regular first-team football after spending five of the last seven seasons gathering dust on the sidelines.
Everton, then, certainly feels like the more likely destination of the two.
Pickford’s replacement?
Why? Well, think about it.
If you’re a goalkeeper looking to establish yourself as the number one pick at a new club, who would you rather go head-to-head with? One of Europe’s most consistent shot-stoppers in Emiliano Martinez?
Or a man who, for what felt like the umpteenth time in his Everton career, came under fire for another high-profile mistake in Everton’s 5-0 thumping at Tottenham Hotspur.
“Neto is a decent keeper,” former Everton striker Kevin Campbell said recently. “He is exceptional with his feet.”
Finding a goalkeeper capable of emulating Pickford’s distribution – while giving Lampard a more reliable shot-stopping option between the sticks – will be no easy task.
But Neto certainly looks like a potential solution to Everton’s goalkeeping problem.
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