Chelsea have confirmed the signing of Portuguese attacker Pedro Neto from Wolverhampton Wanderers on a seven-year contract.
The 24-year-old has committed his future to Enzo Maresca's side until the end of the 2030-31 campaign and was unveiled to the Stamford Bridge crowd in Sunday's 1-1 friendly draw with Inter Milan.
Chelsea are reportedly set to fork out an initial fee of €60m (£51.3m), which could rise to €63m (£54m) with performance-related add-ons, having fended off interest from some of their Premier League rivals.
Arsenal and Liverpool were hitherto linked with a swoop for the former Braga and Lazio attacker, but it was two other members of the Big Six who supposedly tried and failed with late hijack attempts.
Tottenham Hotspur were reported to have submitted a late player-plus-cash proposal, which led to nothing, while Manchester City also did their utmost to divert Neto away from Stamford Bridge.
Pedro, meet Stamford Bridge! 🏡 pic.twitter.com/Aoav07J8b8
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) August 11, 2024
Neto "really grateful" to represent Chelsea
However, the Citizens also fell short in their bid to hijack Neto's switch to Chelsea, and the Portugal international expressed his delight at joining the Blues when speaking to the official club website.
"I feel really grateful to have joined this club. I have worked really hard in my career to be here and I'm looking forward to getting on the pitch with this shirt," the attacker said.
Neto was presented to the Stamford Bridge faithful during their friendly stalemate with Inter, coming onto the pitch at half time and applauding and waving to the welcoming crowd.
The 24-year-old becomes the Blues' ninth permanent signing of a hectic summer window, following Marc Guiu, Tosin Adarabioyo, Omari Kellyman, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Renato Veiga, Filip Jorgensen, Aaron Anselmino and Caleb Wiley to West London.
Neto represented Wolves for five seasons, during which he scored 14 goals and provided 24 assists in 135 matches across all competitions, while battling a series of severe injury problems.
Wolves chief opens up on Neto departure
© Reuters
The Old Gold's sporting director Matt Hobbs insisted that Neto's move to Stamford Bridge was the right move at the right time for Wolves, telling the club's website: "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 [O'Neil] 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."
Neto should make his first-team debut for Chelsea when the Blues open their new Premier League season at home to former admirers Man City on August 18.
Ben Knapton
