Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur are interested in Wolverhampton Wanderers winger Pedro Neto but they will need to invest a significant sum to secure his services, as per various reports.
Gary O’Neil has claimed that Wolves are not planning to cash in on the right-winger at the end of this season but transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has revealed that with so many top suitors, Wolves will find it really hard to hold onto him.
Romano has told CaughtOffSide: “Despite what Wolves manager Gary O’Neil said, I think it’s going to be very difficult to keep Pedro Neto at Wolves next summer, this is my feeling. He’s appreciated by many clubs, he could stay in Premier League but move to top, top club in the summer.”
Neto signed a new deal with Wolves in 2022 and that expires in the summer of 2027 so the Molineux outfit aren’t in a hurry to offload him which is perhaps why they are going to ask for a major transfer fee, as per journalist Ben Jacobs.
The journalist told Give Me Sport: “It will obviously depend on the payment terms and the structure, but there’s going to be nothing cut price because he’s well contracted at the football club. I think Spurs and Arsenal could be two to watch for the summer.
“I think that based upon other transfers in an inflated market at the moment, that kind of number [£65m] is relatively fair by Wolves. It doesn’t feel excessive. They might be well within their rights to be saying, given his form and the demand, they want, even in excess of £85m.
“Simply because other players in the market in the last few windows have gone for those kinds of amounts. But the starting point for suitors for Neto is going to be more around the £55m to £65m mark.”
Is Pedro Neto really worth £65 – £85m?
The Standard had recently claimed that Wolves are holding out for a club-record incoming transfer fee of £60 million so one thing’s for certain the club wants to make a massive profit from his sale.
Wolves paid £15.32 million for the 23-year-old when they signed him from Napoli and his current market value is around £36 million. Since moving to England, the winger has played in 130 games for the club, scoring 14 and assisting another 24 goals.
When he arrived at the club, he was a promising young talent but two major injuries disrupted his 2020/2021 season, and then the 2022/2023 campaign. To date, he’s missed 98 games for Wolves and the Portugal national team due to injuries but still, 38 goal contributions are not impressive numbers for a regular starter. These figures certainly do not justify valuing him as a £65 – £85 million player.
However, the recent market has gone crazy and in today’s day and age paying around £70 million for a Premier League player seems very normal.
Also, Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool are all cash-rich clubs that can very well afford to pay the full sum for Pedro Neto so Wolves won’t be in the mood to do much negotiations. Arsenal and Tottenham have Bukayo Saka and Kulusevski as right-wingers so they will think twice before spending so much money on the Portugal international but Liverpool are going to leave Mo Salah next summer so they will have to bring in a top-class replacement for the Egyptian international.
Neto has stepped up his performances this season, scoring three and assisting 11 goals in 19 appearances across all competitions and if he can maintain the same level until the end of May, the three interested parties won’t shy off from engaging in a major transfer battle.
