GOALKEEPER Neto says he is “happy” with the form he has shown for Cherries this season, but insisted: “I try to improve and be better every week.”

The club’s captain recently passed 50 Premier League appearances since his move to England last season.

Initially serving as backup to Mark Travers, Neto claimed his place in the team in Gary O’Neil’s first game in charge in August 2022 and has not lost it since.

The Brazilian has missed just two league games this season, through injury, recording six clean sheets from his 24 appearances, including in an impressive performance against Burnley on Sunday.

Bournemouth Echo: Neto has missed just two league games this season

Despite being the undisputed number one in head coach Andoni Iraola’s eyes, at various points in the season there have been calls from some unconvinced fans to play either Travers or Andrei Radu instead.

Asked how he would assess his own form this season, Neto told the Daily Echo: “Speaking about results, of course I would like to be on the top, everybody wants to win the games.

“About the team, I am really happy with how we are improving and how we changed the situation since the beginning.

“We started to understand how much potential we have in this squad.

“On myself, I just try to work hard every week, every game.

“Some things are out of our control, I try to work and do my best on the things I have in my control.

“I am happy with my season, but of course I try to improve and be better every week.”

Cherries’ senior goalkeeping group is made up of stoppers with plenty of experience, all four having featured for their respective countries.

Mark Travers and Darren Randolph are Republic of Ireland internationals, while Andrei Radu and Neto have caps for Romania and Brazil respectively.

“I think I have a very good goalkeeper group, with a lot of quality,” said Neto.

“It is like in any job, the more quality you have in the same place, the quality of the player has to be high.

“You grow with this. We have a very good group and we work very hard at it.”

Neto, 34, had experience playing in Brazil, Italy and Spain, before moving to England in the summer of 2022.

Asked how he has found the adaptation over the past 18 months, the 2012 Olympian said: “For me, it was a big change.

“A new culture, new country and everything was new for me.

“But from the beginning I have always said, I received a very positive impact from every side - the community, the club, the people that work in the club, the players.

“I could always breathe this positive energy in this place, which I’ve enjoyed from the first minute.

“I think this is the difference about this place. We have to keep building and any player that arrives here has to understand it.”