Pedro Neto transfer: Chelsea complete £54m deal with Wolves to sign Portuguese winger | Football News

Chelsea have completed a £54million deal to sign Pedro Neto from Wolves.

The payments will be split into an initial amount of £51.4 million plus £2.6 million in add-ons, The attacker signed a seven-year contract.

Neto, who also attracted interest from Tottenham this summer, showed excellent form for Wolves last season, with three goals and 11 assists, despite suffering two separate hamstring injuries and being out of action for three months.

The Portuguese winger, who has played 10 times for his country and was included in the squad for Euro 2024, is expected to form the wingers for the new season alongside Cole Palmer, Noni Madueke, Mykhailo Mudryk and Raheem Sterling.

Neto is Chelsea’s ninth summer signing, joining Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Filip Jorgensen, Omari Kellyman, Aaron Anselmino, Renato Veiga, Caleb Wiley, Marc Guiu and Tosin Adarabioyo in bolstering Enzo Maresca’s squad for the new season.

The Blues are also close to signing the Atletico Madrid striker Samu Omorodion in a £34.5million deal, with midfielder Conor Gallagher is set to move in the opposite direction in a separate £36m transfer.

Chelsea are also interested in Celtic midfielder Matt O’Riley as a potential replacement for Gallagher.

Why did Chelsea sign Neto?

Sam Blitz from Sky Sports:

If Maresca wants to build his Chelsea team along the same lines as Pep Guardiola did at Man City and Mikel Arteta did at Arsenal, then Neto would be an absolute must.

Both Guardiola and Arteta rely on ‘one-on-one scouts’ on the wings – think Bukayo Saka, Jeremy Doku, Gabriel Martinelli and Jack Grealish – and even during an injury-plagued spell at Wolves, Neto has proven to be one of the best attacking wingers in the Premier League in individual battles.

Last season, Gary O’Neil took the shackles off Neto. “Don’t turn it down, let’s go every time. It doesn’t matter if you lose it, test him. Let’s go,” O’Neil said last season when asked about his individual instructions to the Portuguese winger.

And Neto did. The 24-year-old was constantly involved in one-on-one battles last season, but most importantly there was an end product. Only Kevin De Bruyne averaged more assists per 90 minutes than Neto, who is fortunate enough to be equally effective on both flanks.

With Mudryk, Madueke and Sterling also effective in one-on-one situations, Chelsea appear to have an arsenal of wingers who can complement the aggressive style of play that Maresca wants.

Read Joe Shread’s full article and give your opinion on Chelsea’s squad here.

When does the summer transfer window open and close?

The Summer transfer window 2024 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 align with other major leagues in Europe. The cut-off dates were set after consultation with leagues in England, Germany, Italy, Spain and France.