Pedro Neto has completed a permanent move to Chelsea, following five years at Molineux.
Neto joined Wolves as a teenager in August 2019 and went on to play more than 130 times in Old Gold, be voted the club’s Player of the Season and become a full Portugal international.
Signed with an eye on the future, a debut goal and assist against FC Pyunik provided a sign of things to come from the exciting, confident winger, who quickly settled at Molineux and finished that first campaign with five goals and five assists.
By 2020/21, Neto had established himself in Nuno Espirito Santo’s system, lighting up Wolves’ season behind closed doors with a memorable late winner against Chelsea and a stunning individual strike at Southampton.
Another campaign of double figure goal involvements, but in a less successful team, led to a double honour of the Player of the Season award from his supporters and colleagues, as well as a senior Portugal debut.
Frustratingly for Neto, his third and fourth seasons were hit by injuries, but last term, despite again missing portions of the season through injury, he returned to his best in old gold.
In 24 games, the 24-year-old laid on 11 assists, two of which came in wins at Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, and scored three of his own, including the opener in Wolves’ first win at the Hawthorns in 27 years.
Fresh from representing Portugal at Euro 2024, Neto linked back up with Gary O’Neil’s squad in the USA but has now completed a permanent move to Stamford Bridge.
Sporting director Matt Hobbs said: “Everyone knows the player Pedro is – he’s a world class winger who has been so unlucky with injuries, so we’ll miss him on the pitch obviously, but also around the training ground with his energy and the relationship he had with so many people. The deal is one that works for us and Pedro, but by no means does it make it any easier.
“The reason we get players like Pedro is because this is our model and not everyone will love that, but we can take so much credit for the way we bring players in, the way we look after them, the love they develop for the football club, and the clubs they’re moving on to, for the fees they are.
“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.”
