Revealed: Why Arsenal didn't challenge Chelsea for Pedro Neto

Cameron Smith

16 Aug 2024 19:45 BST
3 min read

Arsenal reportedly opted against challenging Chelsea for the signing of Pedro Neto due to his recent injury record.

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Neto, 24, joined Chelsea from Wolverhampton Wanderers for an initial €60 million last week, despite being linked with both Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur for several months.

The Blues moved quickly to secure his signature and he was presented in front of the Stamford Bridge crowd during their final pre-season friendly against Inter Milan on Sunday.

Despite long-standing interest in Neto, Arsenal decided against signing him due to his injury problems, according to ESPN’s James Olley.

He told the ESPN YouTube channel: “I think that’s one of the reasons Arsenal didn’t end up pursuing Pedro Neto basically.

“A top player, Chelsea could’ve stolen another one from under their noses there, but he’s missed a lot of games through injury and Arteta has this big thing in his head about reliability.

“Your biggest strength is your availability is how they phrase it internally, Neto is one of those players they were looking at for a long time, but they’ve decided to go elsewhere this summer.”

Neto has missed 102 games through injury since the start of the 2020-21 season, while he suffered two separate hamstrings injuries last campaign.

The Portuguese international did manage 14 goal contributions in just 24 Premier League appearances when fully fit in 2023-24, but Chelsea will be wary of his subpar injury record.

Chelsea’s summer business

Neto is one of nine new signings to have joined Chelsea so far this summer.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Filip Jorgensen, Omari Kellyman, Aaron Anselmino, Renato Veiga, Caleb Wiley, Marc Guiu and Tosin Adarabioyo have also arrived at Stamford Bridge since the start of the summer window.

Despite the huge number of incomings, Chelsea are still interested in adding Napoli’s Victor Osimhen, Atletico Madrid’s Joao Felix and KRC Genk’s Mike Penders.