An incredibly hard job awaits new Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Vitor Pereira. The Portuguese manager has been officially confirmed as the new man in the hot seat at Molineux, taking over from Gary O’Neil who was sacked after a poor start to the 2024/25 campaign.
He will be hoping to transform their fortunes this term, which currently sees the Old Gold residing in 19th place in the Premier League table.
Pereira will need a response from his new players, and contributions from more than just Matheus Cunha, who has eight goals and three assists in the top flight this term.
matheus cunha
One former player he surely wishes he had at his disposal is Pedro Neto.
Neto’s Wolves career
Chelsea paid Wolves £54m for electric Portuguese winger Neto over the summer, and it was certainly a big blow for the Old Gold. They have lost some of their stars in the last few windows, but given Neto’s impact on the club, this is the one that might sting the most for the Molineux faithful.
Wolves star Pedro Neto
The Portugal international was fantastic for the Midlands outfit, representing the club on 114 occasions. In that time, he scored 14 goals and grabbed 24 assists across all competitions, including goal involvements in the Europa League in 2019/20.
His best season for the Old Gold was his final one at the club. Sadly, injuries affected Neto’s Wolves career, but he managed 20 games in his last Premier League campaign last term. In that time, the winger scored twice and grabbed nine assists, the joint third-highest in the Premier League. That is impressive reading given the lack of game time he had.
It was off the back of this good form that the Blues paid such a high fee for him last summer. The 24-year-old has made a strong start to life at Stamford Bridge, scoring three goals and grabbing five assists in 18 games so far.
pedro-neto-chelsea (2)
Having a player like Neto would surely have made his start to life at Wolves easier. However, they have been linked to someone who could come in and be his own version of the winger.
Pereira’s own Pedro Neto
The player in question here is Newcastle United winger Miguel Almiron. The Paraguayan international has been linked with a loan move to Molineux earlier this week, according to reports.
The Old Gold are thought to be ‘monitoring Almiron’ alongside fellow Premier League strugglers Crystal Palace and Leicester City.
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It is not too much of a surprise that Eddie Howe is happy to let the 30-year-old leave St James’ Park temporarily. This season, he has not had much involvement for the Magpies, playing nine times in all competitions, with six of those games coming in the top flight, starting once.
With that being said, the former Atlanta United star does have a fairly good record overall for the North East side. In 218 games for the club, he has scored 30 times and has 12 assists. His best season was 2022/23, when he scored 11 times in 34 Premier League games.
There are certainly similarities between Neto and Almiron which means the Paraguayan could be compared to the former Wolves star. They are both tricky left-footed wingers, who love to cut in and drive towards goal.
Almiron
Statistically, there can be comparisons drawn between their two best seasons in the top flight, 2022/23 for Almiron and 2023/24 for Neto.
According to Squawka, Almiron averaged more forward passes with 7.9 and a better take-on success rate with 53.52% per game than the Chelsea number seven. In his best season, he averaged 6.6 forward passes and a 46.84% take-on success rate per game.
Almiron vs Neto key stats compared
Stat (per 90)
Goals
Chances created
Forward passes
Take-ons completed
Take-on success rate
Fouls won
Stats from Squawka
Signing Almiron on loan could be the spark Wolves need. He was once described as a “handful for defenders” by football statistician Statman Dave.
Perhaps he could be just what the Old Gold - and Pereira - need to give them a boost as they look to stay in the Premier League.
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