Chelsea’s summer acquisition, Pedro Neto, acknowledges that he has not yet hit his stride after making a high-profile move from Wolves.
The Portuguese forward joined the Blues last month in a £54 million deal, committing to a seven-year contract at Stamford Bridge….
Continue ReadingDuring his five years with Wolves, Neto emerged as a key player for the team but faced frequent injury setbacks.
The 24-year-old scored his first goal for Chelsea in a dominant Carabao Cup win against League Two side Barrow on Tuesday.
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However, he feels there is still much more he can offer.
Neto, who missed about two months of the 2023-24 season due to injury, is eager to regain his peak form after the summer transfer to Chelsea.
‘At the moment, I’m not at my level, but I’m getting there,’ he told the Evening Standard. ‘I know that I will arrive at my top form and I will enjoy it.
‘I continue to work. I continue to work on my confidence, on my football, on the adaptation, and I hope to be [at full fitness] as soon as as I can.’
Neto has struggled for starts since joining Chelsea and head coach Enzo Maresca has conceded he is one of three players who ‘deserve’ more game-time.
Given his reduced role in the team so far, former Sky Sports presenter Jeff Stelling recently questioned whether Neto would be ‘regretting’ his move to the club.
‘I mentioned Pedro Neto earlier,’ he said on talkSPORT. ‘I just wonder if he is regretting in any way shape or form his move because he can’t get a start at Chelsea.
‘You do want to see him on the football pitch because he has had so many injuries over the years, he has played so little football.’
Neto admits he has his work cut out to earn starts at Stamford Bridge but says the added competition at the club will make him an even better player.
‘When you arrive at a big club, it’s a new adaptation,’ he said. ‘Maybe in Wolverhampton, I was going to play maybe 90 per cent of the games.
‘Here, I have to work even more or maybe I’ll not play because the coach will rotate the players. It makes you play even better because you know that you have to work.
‘With the amount of quality that we have here, no one can sleep. As the coach has said: “Everyone will not play every game”.
‘We have to work hard and make for ourselves and continue to to do it every weekend, every training session, every game. It’s the mentality that I hope
can take us to the top.’show less
