Wolverhampton Wanderers confirm Pedro Neto has signed a new deal until 2025. The 20-year-old has been rewarded for his fine form under Nuno Espirito Santo, having flourished with more playing time this season.
Neto has made an impact in his 12 months at Wolves and looks to have a bright future at Molineux, so it’s brilliant news that we’ve tied him down to a long-term deal.
How has he fared at Wolves so far?
Very well. Neto joined from Lazio in August 2019 and has gone on to make 52 appearances in all competitions, scoring six goals with seven assists.
The Portuguese U21 international was frequently used from the bench in his debut campaign (27 substitute appearances in 2019/20) and was frequently hauled off when he did start (substituted 14 times), but he’s become an important player.
Neto had competition from Diogo Jota, Daniel Podence and Adama Traore last season, so it’s wasn’t a shock that his starts were sporadic. He’s nailed down a regular place in the eleven now despite Vitinha and Fabio Silva’s summer arrivals, so we’re not hurting too much from Jota’s departure.
Neto in fine form this season
The 20-year-old has made eight appearances in all competitions this season, scoring one goal with two assists.
He’s started all seven of our Premier League games, creating 14 chances, completing 91% of his 222 passes, making 14/29 successful dribbles, taking 12 shots, whipping in 38 crosses, blocking eight passes/shots/crosses, winning 10 freekicks and averaging a tackle (6) or interception (11) every 34 minutes.
Neto has started in a variety of roles under Nuno – centre-forward, attacking-midfield, left-wing and right-wing – so he’s a very useful player in the squad. He’s keeping Traore out of the side on merit and seems happy at Wolves.
Summary
Neto is the fourth player Wolves have tied down to a long-term deal this season after Conor Coady (signed a five-year deal in September), Raul Jimenez (signed a four-year deal in October), Max Kilman (signed a five-year deal in October).
We paid £16.1m to sign the 20-year in 2019, but CIES Football Observatory believe he’s now worth €30m-€40m (£27m-£36.1m).
