Barcelona have included Chelsea’s Pedro Neto in their target list for the summer window.
The Blues signed the winger from Wolverhampton Wanderers for £51.6m [€60m] in August 2024.
Neto finished his final season at Molineux with two goals and nine assists in the Premier League. He managed nine goals and nine assists in his debut season at Chelsea of which four goals and six assists were in the league.
Comparing his stats from these two seasons, there’s been no change in expected Goals [XG]. It’s 3.5 per game, while big chances created have improved from 7 to 11 since joining the Blues.
The number of crosses lowered from 1.7 at Wolves to 1.2 in his first season at Chelsea. The same with successful dribbles, dropped from 46.8% [1.9] to 42.5% [1].
However, the Portugal international has made progress in his second season at the west London club, when compared to his debut season. He has 10 goals and six assists from 42 matches so far.
Below are the stats, with the first one for this season and the second from last campaign for the Premier League per game.
- Expected Goals [xG]: 4.29 – 3.5
- Expected Assists: 5.62 – 4.77
- Long balls: 1 – 0.7
- Successful dribbles: 1.4 – 1
Meanwhile, he received eight yellow cards last season, and it reduced to three, one of those resulted in a red. That was against Arsenal earlier this month.
Barcelona looking at Chelsea player
Friday’s edition of Mundo Deportivo states he’s a ‘game changer’ and therefore, Barcelona have him on their agenda.
Lamine Yamal and Raphinha are the first-choice wingers for Hansi Flick, with Marcus Rashford and Roony Bardghji as their backups.
Rashford is on loan from Manchester United and the La Liga side have a €30m purchase option. They are expected to activate it, while the 20-year-old has ‘long way to go’ to become a key player at the Camp Nou.
Therefore, the Spanish giants could look at a winger, and this is where the Chelsea star comes into the picture. He can operate on both wings, and Barca have gathered positive reports about him.
The newspaper points out the recent controversies around Neto. The FA charged him for acting in an “improper manner” by failing to leave the pitch “promptly” and using abusive language towards the match officials.
Earlier this week, Neto pushed a ball boy at Parc des Princes in Chelsea’s 5-2 Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain. Sport Witness have covered the match ratings for the clash.
The attacker apologised to him after the match and even handed his shirt over. However, UEFA have opened a disciplinary procedure. Despite the latest controversies, Barcelona maintain their interest.
Neto’s agent Jorge Mendes has close ties with Barcelona and also represents Yamal and Alejandro Balde, João Cancelo and Marc Casadó.
This could favour Barcelona, should they decide to make advances to take him away from Liam Rosenior’s side. The newspaper claims Neto has a release clause in his Chelsea deal, without mentioning the figure. This is seen as a ‘good news’ for Barcelona, provided the player wants a new adventure.
A potential move will also depend on the Blaugrana’s own finances and their priorities for other positions.
Why Neto shouldn’t join Barcelona
The attacker enjoyed regular game time under Enzo Maresca and that didn’t change under his successor.
To put it in context, he played 1,824 minutes under the Italian and 1,012 minutes from 14 matches under Rosenior.
His contract at Chelsea expires in 2031, and Transfermarkt value him at €60m. This is the highest so far in his career, which shows the progress he has made at the west London club.
At the Camp Nou, Neto is likely to be behind Yamal and Raphinha. Therefore, he’d have to settle for a backup role, which may not be ideal at this stage of his career.
