Wolves agree deal with Chelsea for Pedro Neto - Liam Keen and Nathan Judah analysis
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00:00Hello, I'm Nathan Judah, delighted to be joined by Wolverhampton Wonders reporter, it is Mr
00:13Liam Keane. Liam, we're doing a video on a Friday before a game, pre-season game tomorrow,
00:19which means alert. That means that there's something major happening, something brewing,
00:24maybe something completed. I guess for Wolves fans it's disappointing news, although we'll
00:28be arguing, I'm sure, back and forth about that. Look, when you lose your best player
00:34then of course it's a disappointment and Pedro Neto is on his way to Chelsea, Liam.
00:38Yeah, absolutely. A massive development for Wolves' transfer window this afternoon. So
00:45just to clear up a little bit of confusion amongst some fans over pounds and euros, some
00:49people report the news in euros, I choose to convert it into pounds because obviously
00:55that's the currency we use, but it's 60 million euros, which is around about 51.4 million
01:01pounds. Bonuses are of three million euros or 2.5 roughly million pounds. So including
01:10bonuses that will take it to in pounds roughly just under 54 million, which will make it
01:16a club record, which obviously trumps the 53 million that Man City paid for Mateus Nunez
01:21last summer.
01:23If he fulfils those bonuses, of course.
01:24Of course. And we're expecting he will do so. We're expecting he will eventually become
01:28Wolves' record signing, record sale rather. And it's no massive surprise really. I think
01:34some supporters are hoping for more money, I think. It's not a massive surprise to see
01:40him moving on because it's a player that we've known throughout the whole of this summer
01:44was going to leave Wolves, provided the money was there. And the money is there now and
01:48Wolves are happy with the deal. Just a little bit of background information that I was able
01:52to report this afternoon as well. Both Spurs and Chelsea had made previous offers for Neto
01:59in the last few days and weeks. Interesting that both clubs, Spurs and Chelsea, had offered
02:05player plus cash offers, have been able to get the full details of which players and
02:10cash was involved. But I do know that it was Oliver Skip, the midfielder from Spurs, was
02:16part of an offer.
02:18Which is a bizarre offer. As far as I understand it, the offers for players and cash from those
02:27two clubs were pretty underwhelming. Hence why Wolves were very quick to reject them.
02:33Chelsea then made a straight cash offer, which was below obviously what has been agreed,
02:38which was rejected last night in fact. And this morning Chelsea came back very quickly
02:43with the offer that we've got in front of us now. As I say, just under £54 million
02:48including bonuses that Wolves have now accepted. And I think there will be a lot of debate
02:53over the price. But I think I have to go straight in and say, in my opinion, it's quite fair
02:59to be honest.
03:00Yeah and look, I think fair is the right adjective really. Because look, Chelsea have overpaid
03:07for a lot of players in previous seasons. We understand that. So if we're going and
03:12judging it by that, then yes, I guess Wolves wanted a piece of this overpaying malarkey
03:18that's been going on £80, £90, £100 million. But you look at Pedro Neto and you look at
03:25the amount of games and we all know that he's very injury prone. They have put something
03:29out, 51 games he's featured out of the last 121 in the Premier League. That's 42%. So
03:35yes, if that was 70% or 80% of the last 121 games, we're talking Liam about a £65, £75
03:46million player. But you have to ding him for that and his value because he's played so
03:51little.
03:52Now I understand that people will look at him, they'll look at his age, they'll look
03:57at his potential, they'll look at that he's going to hopefully get better and better as
04:02a player. And that if you get a fit Pedro Neto, this is massive value compared to the
04:07outlay that Chelsea have made in over the last few years with certain players. But it's
04:12a big if Liam, it's a big if. And the thing is, I think it works for both parties because
04:17Chelsea can kind of afford that. You look at the depth of the squad, you look at the
04:22wide forwards. I mean, Gary O'Neill made even a funny quip about it in our podcast
04:27the amount of wingers that, you know, Pedro Lima or Nelson Samedo and Ryan Eto'o will
04:32have to deal with when Chelsea are there. And he'll just fit into that. So even if you
04:36just play 18, 19 games, they've got replacements. I don't think Wolves could have afforded another
04:41season of Pedro Neto playing less than 50% of the games. And it's all just weighing it
04:47up to see what is it. I agree with you. I think it's a fair price.
04:51The first thing to say is that Pedro Neto is a fabulous footballer. He really is. When
04:55he is on song, when he is fit, when he is available, he is a wonderful footballer who
05:02produced some of his best football of his career last season, alongside two very serious
05:08hamstring injuries. And that is the big caveat to this conversation. Now you've got to look
05:12at not just last season, but his Wolves career as a whole since he arrived all those years
05:16ago. A serious knee injury, 10 months on the sidelines, a fairly serious ankle injury,
05:23four months on the sidelines, and then those two hamstring injuries last season as well.
05:28He unfortunately has been an injury prone footballer in a Wolves shirt, which has hampered
05:33and hindered his impact and progress. However, he is also an exceptional footballer. Without
05:39those injuries, you could easily say, I think he's near enough an 80 million pound footballer
05:44roughly in that ballpark without those injuries. But with them, it has to impact his price.
05:51It has to because he may go into next season and pick up as would be expected another relatively
05:59serious or long-term injury. And can you expect a club to pay 80 million pounds for that kind
06:06of player? Now we may have a slightly different conversation in hindsight. If he goes to Chelsea
06:11and he plays regularly and he fulfills the potential and the football that we saw in
06:16the Wolves shirt and doesn't get injured, it starts to become a bargain for Chelsea.
06:21But that, in my opinion, considering the history we have in front of us, is a big if. I think
06:27he'll go there and be a great success because of his talent. But will he be available consistently?
06:31I think it's a big if because of the injury record. So that means for me, it's a fair
06:36price. As I say, we might look back on it in hindsight and think, well, Wolves could
06:40have got more out of him there because he ended up staying fit for Chelsea. But right
06:42now, with the facts in front of us and the history that he's got, for me, it's a fair
06:46price.
06:47You arrived back in 2019 with Bruno Jordão, of course, for a combined fee of £18 million.
06:53So significant profit there. Look, in terms of Wolves, in terms of what the supporters
06:58are thinking, yes, they're very disappointed to lose him. But of course, the question now
07:01is can they replace Pedro Neto? Now, it's very difficult to say, can you replace Pedro
07:06Neto? But we've spoken to Gary Neal, as everybody's seen in pre-season, in depth, off the pitch,
07:11on the pitch, in the podcast. Matt Hobbs, Gary O'Neill, this will not be a surprise.
07:16And then turned around from last night going, oh, my goodness, we're going to lose our best
07:19player. What do we do? There will be plenty of players on a list that they will be ready
07:26to go for. And I'm sure that they already are going for, not just now, but maybe last
07:30week when they returned home. We all knew that this would get developed very, very quickly
07:37in terms of players that they want in. So who can they get on board? Have they got interest
07:42in certain players already? And also how much of that money, how much of that transfer fee
07:47do you think Wolves will be able to spend? Do you think it will be the whole amount or
07:50do you think it might be substantially less? Yeah, on the finances, first of all, I'd be
07:55surprised if they go out and spend every single penny of that money that comes in because
08:00they'll be looking at other players. There'll be some young talents they'll be interested
08:04in bringing in. And of course, they're going to want to make sure they don't breach any
08:08of the financial rules. But considering, as you mentioned there, the fee that Neto has
08:11brought in for all the way back in 2019 as well, and the fee that he's now leaving for,
08:17this means he will be, the vast majority of that money will be profit for Wolves from
08:21a PSR point of view. It will be very beneficial for Wolves from a financial point of view,
08:26and it will give them more room to bring more players in. And one player they are looking
08:31at is Ajax, a 20-year-old Portuguese winger in Carlos Forbes, previously of the Man City
08:37academy, made a move to Ajax last summer, had a full season there last season. He's
08:44a player that they're looking at, but he's one of a number of options in that wing department
08:49that they're looking at. And as I understand it, Ajax currently are asking for a fair bit
08:54of money that might be blocking any move that Wolves can make for him. So it would depend
08:59really on Ajax's willingness to come down in price, and also the other targets the Wolves
09:04are looking at. But make no bones about it, Gary O'Neill will be demanding a replacement
09:09for Pedro Neto, and Wolves will ensure that they bring a replacement in, because the financial
09:13freedom they'll have with this sale will allow them to make a like-for-like replacement.
09:18Yeah, so the last time we see him in a Wolves shirt was against RB Leipzig.
09:22He was.
09:22He's not going to be playing, seeing him tomorrow at Molineux, that's for certain.
09:26And it's a shame, because like you say, on his day, he is fantastic to watch. He is
09:32what you pay your entrance fee to go and see. And, you know, it's just so ironic,
09:39and this happens a lot, that Wolves' home opener, the second game of the season,
09:44will be against Chelsea. Now whether Pedro Neto is available or not by then, we'll see.
09:48But you'd expect that he probably will be, and you expect that this will be done
09:52quite swiftly, now that this is all broken. It's going to be bittersweet, isn't it? I mean,
09:56I'm sure he'll get a great reception, but at the same time, all the best,
10:00Matt Doherty or Pedro Lima on that right-hand side.
10:03Or if he plays on the right, you know, you know...
10:05Well, you might do. You think...
10:07Yeah, I know what you mean, yeah.
10:08Yeah, exactly. I mean, it'll be an interesting one. Yeah, it's funny how these things work out,
10:12but considering his medical is happening imminently, I'm expecting this deal to go
10:18through relatively quickly. As you say, there's no way he'll be involved, obviously, for Wolves
10:23against Rayo Vallecano tomorrow. But that means, considering he is fit, he played against Leipzig,
10:28he's been training, you expect he'll go straight into Chelsea, trains, they obviously have a first
10:33game of the season, and then they go to Wolves. You know, it's written in the stars that he's
10:37going to play in that game, whether from the start or from the bench. I do think he'll get
10:41a good reception, as you say. I think he probably deserves that as well. He's been a good servant
10:45to Wolves and a fabulous footballer. But you don't want him having an impact on the game,
10:51because if he finds space, if he has space to run in behind, space to run with the ball,
10:57he will cause a lot of damage. And now, obviously, from, you know, a Wolves point of view,
11:02I think everyone wishes that he does stay fit and does well and goes on and has a good career. But
11:07two games a season, maybe have a quiet afternoon.
11:11Yeah, there's a few fans who, when we were out in America, they had the Awake at launch,
11:22and the fan asked if he wanted to leave the club, and then it's very difficult to say,
11:29well, actually, I want to leave the club. You're not going to say that, are you? So
11:32I'd take that with a little bit of a pinch of salt. And obviously, you know, he wanted to go,
11:36he wanted to go to a big six club, so to speak. Spurs and Chelsea have come in and Chelsea can
11:42offer him European football, just about. I think the Europa League they got into in the end of May,
11:47I believe, this season. So we'll see what he does there. But look, it is interesting.
11:55I think he will do well, like you say, if he stays fit. But the most important thing,
11:59and what we're more interested in now, now Pedro Neto's almost gone, is Wolves going forward. And
12:04in the short term, at least, Liam, you're going to be looking at probably, would you say,
12:09Rodrigo Gomez, maybe Paulo Sarabia occupying those wide areas does need one or two now wide
12:16players. And look, you look at maybe the repercussions of this, you know, a Gonzalo
12:22Guedes, a Daniel Pedenes, are these players who may be more likely to stay now, or will
12:28looking to bringing one? For me, two players need to come in now in terms of replacing Pedro Neto.
12:34Yes, I mean, it's obvious that at least one player has to come in. Guedes and Pedenes is
12:39still very much up in the air. Although from a financial point of view, I suppose they're
12:42not desperate to offload them now with the sale of Kilmer and then this sale as well.
12:47So it'd be particularly interesting to see how much, if at all, either of them are involved
12:51against Vallecano on Saturday afternoon. But yeah, absolutely agree. We'll have to bring a
12:56winger in now. Rodrigo Gomez has been excellent in America, he's 21. Jequinho, now 24, but with
13:02limited Premier League experience. Sarabia, a very different kind of player, not an out-and-out
13:07winger, very much an inside forward, albeit done well in pre-season. Huang He-Chan has been playing
13:13off the striker, can play out wide, but again, slightly different kind of forward. An out-and-out
13:18winger, I say of the Neto mould, obviously talent-wise is going to be difficult for the
13:23Pricewells to be looking for, but someone of that kind of mould in terms of direct, quick,
13:30aggressive, running with the ball. They need someone, I think, who's going to replace that
13:35kind of dynamic in the squad. And that, for me, is a must now going forward. And it's certainly
13:39what they're looking at, as you mentioned, with Forbes and the other options they're exploring.
13:44Yeah, interesting one. Forbes is only 20 years old. Let's say you do get him over the line.
13:48That's still a 20-year-old young kid who's going to come to the Premier League. You've got Rodrigo
13:51Gomez, 21, not played a Premier League game yet. You've got Pablo Sarabia on the other side of
13:55things, at the other end of the spectrum, getting on a little bit in years. We saw the issues last
14:01season with injuries. Mateus Cunha's already a huge doubt for Arsenal and is injured with his
14:06hamstring. So they've got to be very careful here, Wolves, don't they? There was obviously a lot of
14:10progression in pre-season, a lot of encouragement, but at the same time, the last thing they want to
14:15do, especially what we saw last season, is leave themselves shortly. And that's almost £100 million
14:21recouped in two big signings or sales this off-season. You look at probably over £100 million
14:28by the time you maybe get a few periphery guys out the door, that's over £100 million worth of sales.
14:34So they are going to have to spend some money and they are going to have to bulk up this squad,
14:39not just in quantity but quality. Absolutely, and they'll be in a position to do that with
14:42these sales as well. They're in a much healthier financial position than they were last summer,
14:47of course, when Lopetegui was in charge and then eventually left the club. So
14:51they are in a much better position. They have sold two very important footballers,
14:56and it might not be a popular opinion, but in my opinion, for two very good fees. Particularly
15:01good in Kilman's case and fair, I would describe it, in Neto's case. And as much as they are
15:08important players, as much as you don't want to lose your best players, Wolves have been guilty
15:12in the past of not selling players at the right time for good fees and reinvesting.
15:18They have done that this time and it's now about rising to the challenge of replacing them and
15:24making sure the team doesn't suffer or suffer as much. So that's really the task for Matt Hobbs'
15:29recruitment team and Gary O'Neill. But as I said already on this video, Gary O'Neill will be
15:33demanding a replacement and Wolves will bring a replacement in. Excellent news. I feel like it
15:38could be a very interesting deadline day on August the 30th. And look, there could be a
15:42Pedro Neto replacement signed on the 29th on the evening. And if it is, you could be watching us
15:47live because we will be doing a deadline day after dark special, a Wolves live poddy. Tickets are on
15:52sale now. My goodness, that could be a live poddy for the ages. Liam Keane, thank you very much.