Pedro Neto and Wesley Fofana of Chelsea look on
Pedro Neto and Wesley Fofana of Chelsea look on
Let us not get too excited yet. It would be a shock if anyone paid Chelsea £100m to sign Pedro Neto this summer.
Neto is a good winger. In fact, he is one of the best in the Premier League. However, he is not worth £100m; his output is just not high enough to be talking about such a crazy figure.
Yet Chelsea have reportedly slapped a £100m price tag on his head. And with a Saudi Pro League club involved, who knows what could happen?
Al-Hilal are set for talks with Chelsea this week about potentially signing Neto. If that happens and the Blues do manage to get their £100m fee for the winger, what should they do with it?
Pedro Neto of Chelsea
Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images
The obvious thing to do would be to reinvest it into a new right winger. But Chelsea would probably be better off saving it before taking a look at the right winger market next year.
Right now, the right winger market does not look amazing. The world’s top right-sided attackers are already playing for Europe’s top clubs, including Yan Diomande, who has just joined Real Madrid.
The Ivory Coast international would have been a good option to consider if he were still at RB Leipzig.
Ultimately, Chelsea should wait until someone else bursts onto the scene or an established name becomes available.
Another reason why Chelsea should wait is because they have just signed Geovany Quenda from Sporting and already have Estevao Willian.
If they explode in the new season, the club may not need to drop £100m on a new attacker. Quenda impressed in pre-season and will be hoping for regular minutes out wide at Stamford Bridge.
If Chelsea are going to get £100m for Neto, that would probably be better spent on a midfielder or goalkeeper, but that is a discussion for another day.