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."
Why have Chelsea signed Neto?
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.
When does the summer transfer window open
and close?
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.