Pedro Neto has completed his move to Chelsea from Wolves; the Blues will pay £51.4m up front plus £2.6m in add-ons; Chelsea have already signed nine players this summer and could add Atletico Madrid striker Samu Omorodion to their attacking ranks alongside Neto
Monday 12 August 2024 07:34, UK
Chelsea have completed a £54m deal to sign Pedro Neto from Wolves.
The payments are broken up into an initial £51.4m plus £2.6m in add-ons, with the forward signing a seven-year deal. Neto was paraded at half time at Stamford Bridge during Sunday's pre-season friendly with Inter Milan.
"I feel really grateful to have joined this club," said the 24-year-old. "I have worked really hard in my career to be here and I'm looking forward to getting on the pitch with this shirt."
A Wolves statement said it was "the right deal at the right time" for the club and that work "on options and targets" to replace Neto was ongoing.
With three goals and 11 assists, Neto - who was also of interest to Tottenham this summer - showed some excellent form for Wolves last season, despite suffering two different hamstring injuries and missing three months of action.
The Portuguese winger, who has been capped 10 times by his country and was named in their Euro 2024 squad, joins Cole Palmer, Noni Madueke, Mykhailo Mudryk and Raheem Sterling as wide options ahead of the new season.
Neto is Chelsea's 10th summer signing - with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Filip Jorgensen, Omari Kellyman, Aaron Anselmino, Renato Veiga, Caleb Wiley, Marc Guiu and Tosin Adarabioyo adding to Enzo Maresca's squad for the new season. A deal has also been done for Palmeiras teenager Estevao Willian, who will not arrive until next summer.
The Blues are also set to sign Atletico Madrid striker Samu Omorodion in a £34.5m deal, with midfielder Conor Gallagher set to move in the opposite direction in a separate £36m transfer.
Chelsea have also held an interest in Celtic midfielder Matt O'Riley as a potential replacement for Gallagher.
Wolves' statement read: "For the club, it's the right deal at the right time. It's hard when it's someone who everyone has so much affinity for as a person to look at it as a business, but football is a business and it was the right timing and the right deal, so from that perspective, the football club are happy.
"We've been working on options and on targets and that work keeps going. Me and Gary have sat down several times since, but we were sitting down beforehand and talking about it because I think we thought there was a good chance this would happen this summer."
Sky Sports' Sam Blitz:
If Maresca is going to build his Chelsea team in a similar mould to Pep Guardiola at Man City and Mikel Arteta at Arsenal, then Neto was a must-buy.
Both Guardiola and Arteta rely on "one-on-one explorers" down the flanks - Bukayo Saka, Jeremy Doku, Gabriel Martinelli and Jack Grealish spring to mind - and even over an injury-hit spell at Wolves, Neto has proven to be one of the best-attacking wingers in the Premier League in individual running battles.
Last season, Gary O'Neil took the shackles off Neto. "Don't turn it down, let's go every single time. Don't care if you lose it, test him. Let's go," said O'Neil last season when asked about his individual instructions to the Portuguese winger.
And Neto obliged. The 24-year-old was constantly involved in one-on-one battles last season but most crucially, there was end product too. Only Kevin De Bruyne averaged more assists per 90 minutes than Neto, who has the luxury of being equally effective on either flank.
With Mudryk, Madueke and Sterling also capable of one-on-one effectiveness, Chelsea look like they have an array of wingers to complement the aggressive style of play Maresca wants.
Read Joe Shread's full feature and have your say on the Chelsea squad here.
The 2024 summer transfer window officially closes on August 30 at 11pm UK time in the Premier League and 11.30pm in Scotland.
The Premier League has brought forward Deadline Day to link up with the other major leagues in Europe. The closing dates were set following discussions with the leagues in England, Germany, Italy, Spain and France.
