Enzo Maresca has a real dilemma going into Chelsea’s Champions League match against Atalanta on Tuesday night.
The Chelsea head coach has just lost Liam Delap to injury, while the 22-year-old and the team’s other striker options have not been scoring consistently this season.
Delap has already missed a chunk of the campaign, but Joao Pedro and Marc Guiu have been available for most games.
Pedro Neto is another option for Maresca, but there will be one concern about starting him up front.
Pedro Neto of Chelsea looks on during the warm up ahead of the Premier League match between Bournemouth and Chelsea
Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
Chelsea winger Pedro Neto has scored just one goal as a centre-forward
Despite being a winger, Neto has played up front before, including in Chelsea’s impressive 3-0 victory over Barcelona.
With his pace and energy, the 25-year-old can run in behind and press really aggressively. The only problem is that he is not a goal threat when playing as a centre-forward.
According to Transfermarkt, Neto has played as a striker 25 times in his career but has only managed to score one goal.
RANK: Chelsea’s striker options
Liam Delap, Joao Pedro, Pedro Neto, Marc Guiu and Tyrique George
Pedro Neto of Chelsea FC (R) celebrates with his teammate Liam Delap (L)
Photo by Marcio Machado/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images
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This season, the Portuguese has scored five goals in 15 Premier League appearances, meaning that he has already surpassed his tally from the previous campaign.
He is clearly improving in front of goal or finding himself in better positions. Whether Neto is ready to lead the line for the Blues on a more regular basis, though, remains to be seen. Based on the above, Chelsea fans will have their concerns.
If Maresca were to keep Neto out wide, you would expect Pedro to replace Delap.
Enzo Maresca manager / head coach of Chelsea with Pedro Neto of Chelsea
Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images
Pedro Neto’s overall goal record
In general, Neto does not have the most prolific goalscoring record. In his senior career, he has scored just 29 goals in 214 games.
However, the above does not mean that Neto is a bad footballer. He is anything but and has shown that at Chelsea.
Again, the Portugal international has qualities such as pace and effective dribbling. All things considered, then, any experiment with him up front has to be short-term.
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