Arsenal were one of the clubs left trailing in Chelsea’s wake this summer when they announced the major signing of one of the Premier League’s most exciting attacking players.
That player is Pedro Neto, who looked sure to be a success when he made the move from Wolves to Chelsea, having previously also been tracked by Arsenal, as revealed by our columnist Charles Watts.
The Portugal international had his injury problems, but was otherwise a joy to watch at his former club, and he’s gone straight into Enzo Maresca’s first XI for most games this season.
“I was a Manchester United fan as a kid, but I knew I had to leave after just one training session!” – which Man Utd flop made this HUGE revelation?
Still, for a player who cost £54m (fee via BBC Sport), he’s contributed very little, with no goals or assists in his last 11 games in all competitions for his club.
Bullet dodged for Arsenal? Pedro Neto is proving a major flop at Chelsea
Arsenal fans will have been hugely frustrated when Neto scored against them in the 1-1 Premier League game at Stamford Bridge earlier this season, but he’s actually done little else to show the Gunners that they’ll regret missing out on him.
The 24-year-old has only three goals and two assists in total for Chelsea, and apart from his equaliser against Arsenal, he’s only managed to find the back of the net against pretty low calibre opponents in the form of lower-league side Barrow in the Carabao Cup and Gent in the Europa Conference League.
His two assists came against Wolves and Newcastle, which isn’t bad, but he’s not done nearly enough for Chelsea so far, and he’s done quite well to avoid more flak over it, in all honesty.
Much has been made of Mykhailo Mudryk and his lack of impact at CFC, while questions were quickly raised of Nicolas Pepe at Arsenal and Antony at Manchester United when they didn’t hit the ground running.
Neto needs to up his game soon or he’s surely going to be one the Blues consider letting go soon, with this club showing they’re not necessarily going to be patient with signings that don’t deliver.
Arsenal fans, meanwhile, may have been frustrated at their club not investing in a big-name attacking player last summer, but the failure of Neto shows that sometimes even players who seem like obvious targets aren’t guaranteed to deliver.
