Chelsea sign Pedro Neto..how would he improve the Blues?
The dawn of a new Premier League season often brings hope, optimism and excitement, but Chelsea are already feeling pensive ahead of Enzo Maresca’s first official game in charge.
As the Chelsea hierarchy continues their youth-orientated approach to building the squad, they have notably added a bit more Premier League experience to their ranks this summer. To that effect, Chelsea tickets will also see a surge in demand for the 2024/25 season.
After having one of the youngest squads in the top flight last season, they lost the veteran presence of Thiago Silva and Maresca has been thrown into the deep end following his EFL Championship title win with Leicester City.
A significant acquisition has thus been made with the surprise addition of Pedro Neto from Wolves on a £54m deal with add-ons. The Portuguese winger has signed a six-year contract with the option of another year amidst interest from Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur.
This deal may have come out of nowhere, but the club had secretly been working on signing Neto for almost two months until it came to light when an agreement was finally struck with Wolves and the player.
Thus, only 48 hours after this transfer was finally made public, Neto was introduced to the Stamford Bridge crowd at half-time of Chelsea’s final pre-season friendly against Inter Milan.
Proven quality
The 24-year-old is an explosive and dynamic forward who is effective on both flanks despite being a natural left-footer, most importantly, Neto has five years of Premier League experience with Wolves when he proved himself as one of the most exciting players in the top flight.
His trickery, pace and vision will get fans off their seats and the move to West London will provide a platform to kick on with the next step of his career.
Neto has a worrying injury record as he suffered long-term knee, ankle and hamstring injuries over the last few seasons. Yet, he has been effective for Wolves whenever he has been on the pitch, particularly last term when he registered three goals and 11 assists.
Only Kevin De Bruyne averaged more assists per 90 minutes than Neto who missed three months of action in 2023/24.
The 10-time Portugal international is set to join a stacked Chelsea frontline that includes Cole Palmer, Noni Madueke, Mykhailo Mudryk and Raheem Sterling as wide options. Pertinently, Neto’s excellence in one-on-one duels complements the aggressive approach Maresca requires from the wings and it will be interesting to see where the Blues head coach prefers to use him.
The livewire forward represents serious competition for the current stars and the future of Raheem Sterling is suddenly up for discussion having been linked with a move to Juventus.
Indeed, Neto has proven to be one of the best dribblers in the Premier League and should he be deployed on the left wing as he did for much of his Wolves career, Cole Palmer can continue to operate on the right side with the freedom to drift infield.
With Neto providing incision from the left as an out-and-out winger and Palmer dictating things all over the pitch, Chelsea will have a varied approach to attacking as Nicolas Jackson also looks to build upon a strong debut season where he scored 17 goals across all competitions last term.
Marc Guiu has had an impressive pre-season following his summer switch from Barcelona while Chelsea could yet complete their attacking jigsaw with the signing of Victor Osimhen.
On paper, they have a well-balanced frontline that promises to work within Maresca’s high-possession system while they appear to have improved their forward ranks. This depth of options in attack is also key as they look to compete on all fronts with an expanded UEFA Europa Conference League as well as the revamped FIFA Club World Cup at the end of the season.
Chelsea's summer business
The Blues have already signed nine players this summer with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Filip Jorgensen, Omari Kellyman, Aaron Anselmino, Renato Veiga, Caleb Wiley, Marc Guiu and Tosin Adarabioyo all joining before Neto.
The proposed transfer of Atletico Madrid’s Samu Omorodion has collapsed but Chelsea are set to go after Joao Felix instead. The West Londoners have already spent more than £150million on transfers so far with no Premier League side investing more.
However, the Blues have managed to secure over £86million from departures as the likes of Ian Maatsen, Lewis Hall, Omari Hutchinson, Michael Golding and Conor Gallagher have left this summer. They join Thiago Silva, Hakim Ziyech and Malang Sarr to exit permanently but more are expected before the summer transfer window shuts.
Trevoh Chalobah, Armando Broja and Romelu Lukaku are currently training with the reserves as they await offers, Chelsea must trim their first-team squad appropriately and co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart are working tirelessly to get these deals sorted.
Chalobah has interest from Crystal Palace and Aston Villa, while David Datro Fofana is wanted by Leicester City and Lukaku wants to join Napoli who are also looking to offload Osimhen.
Kepa Arrizabalaga is expected to make a permanent switch this summer and Chelsea are also looking for suitors for Djordje Petrovic, Cesare Casadei and Lesley Ugochukwu as new signings may have changed the fortunes of Carney Chukwuemeka and Ben Chilwell under the new manager. Bashir Humphreys is another fringe player who has offers from Leeds United and Burnley.
Although their recruitment has largely focused on signing under-23 players, some senior professionals have arrived this summer in the form of 26-year-old Adarabioyo, 25-year-old Dewsbury-Hall and 24-year-old Neto.
Nevertheless, it may only be pre-season but just one win and three defeats from six friendlies will not have been the start that Maresca was hoping for as he prepares for his first season as a Premier League head coach.
The Italian named strong sides in each of those games yet saw his new team concede 13 goals as haphazard attempts to play out from the back saw them concede possession directly to opponents in dangerous areas.
There have certainly been improvements in their on and off-the-ball work with each passing game, but those mistakes need to be cut out ahead of Chelsea’s Premier League opener against Manchester City on 18 August.
