Chelsea have agreed a deal to signal Wolves winger Pedro Neto for a price of £51.3m, plus £2.6m in add-ons. The Blues’ curiosity within the Portuguese worldwide has been well-documented, as they beat the likes of Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United to land Neto’s signature forward of the 2024/25 Premier League season.
Neto had been with Wolves since 2019, after making the transfer to the membership from Portuguese facet, Braga. He’d been an everyday within the Wolves beginning XI ever since he signed for them, however discovered it troublesome to remain injury-free within the final three seasons particularly, which shall be a slight concern for Chelsea supporters.
The Blues haven’t been shy of including to their squad this summer season, and with newly-appointed boss Enzo Maresca including Neto to his ranks, the strain is on to supply optimistic outcomes on the earliest of alternatives, with England legend John Barnes amongst many predicting a closely-fought battle for the Champions League locations.
We’ll check out two execs and one con as Neto settles into life in SW6.
Professional – Neto has Premier League expertise
Chelsea have signed loads of gamers over time that don’t have any expertise of enjoying within the Premier League, and with the demanding nature of the English top-flight, a few of these signings actually include a component of danger.
This isn’t the case with Neto although, as he’s spent the final 5 years of his profession enjoying within the Premier League, and he’s actually caught the attention for all the best causes. There’s clearly a slight danger hooked up to this switch deal because of the sizeable switch price Chelsea have paid to signal him, however he’s received expertise of enjoying at this stage, and we’re anticipating him to justify that price ticket.
Professional – It provides apparent high quality to the Chelsea squad
There’s been a weight of expectation on Cole Palmer to supply the inventive spark for Chelsea, and that’s comprehensible given what we’ve seen the teenager is able to at this stage. Nevertheless, the likes of Mykhaylo Mudryk and Raheem Sterling weren’t anyplace close to adequate final season, and extra high quality in broad areas of this Chelsea staff have been wanted.
Neto provides that high quality out broad, and given the switch price that the membership have paid for his companies, you’d anticipate him to be an everyday within the beginning XI. He chipped in with three targets and 11 assists in his 24 appearances for Wolves final season, and can fancy his possibilities of constructing on that spectacular tally heading into the brand new Premier League marketing campaign.
Con – Neto’s damage file
Regardless of Neto’s qualities, his damage file in the previous couple of seasons shall be a priority. In complete, he’s spent 584 days out injured, and has missed 112 matches for Wolves in that point. The very last thing Chelsea will need is for Neto to select up one other damage drawback that might see him sidelined for a chronic time period, and so it’s essential that he’s eased again into motion.
