Chelsea have spent a lot of money on players who haven’t shown enough quality on the pitch in recent years, but there’s no evidence to back that up.
Romeo Ravia at £58m, Christopher Nkunku at £52m, Jamie Gittens at £48.5m and Mykhailo Mudryk at £62m are just a few examples.
The Blues will be hoping that the £117m they just spent to bring Morgan Rodgers to the club from Aston Villa will be better value for money than the aforementioned deal.
However, one player who has divided opinion in recent years is Pedro Neto, who joined from Wolverhampton Wanderers in the summer of 2024 for £54 million.
Why Chelsea should sell Pedro Neto
The Portuguese international scored 10 goals and provided 10 assists in all competitions during the 2025/26 season, an excellent performance for a winger.
However, he achieved this figure with a massive 52 appearances in all competitions, including four goals and two assists in the FA Cup.
The 26-year-old winger has had a solid but modest record since joining from Wolves, scoring nine goals and providing 12 assists in 69 Premier League appearances.
Pedro Neto (Premier League) | 24/25 | 25/26 |
|---|---|---|
begins | twenty four | 30 |
xG | 3.50 | 4.62 |
the goal | 4 | 5 |
A big opportunity has arisen | 11 | 12 |
Shah | 4.77 | 6.83 |
assist | 6 | 6 |
Neto is yet to prove he can provide consistent quality at the top end of the pitch for the Blues, despite being in the prime of his career.
Liverpool were in talks to potentially sign the Portuguese earlier this month, and Chelsea should use this opportunity to sign him and sell the forward to the Reds in the coming weeks.
His lack of consistency in the final third suggests that a club looking to build a squad capable of competing for the Premier League title should move on from Neto to make way for a player who can provide more performance.
£30m deal with Chelsea could spell the end for Pedro Neto
The club are already considering players who could arrive at Stamford Bridge to replace the forward and could allow him to leave.
Chelsea are in talks with Bayer Leverkusen over a deal to replace Xabi Alonso with Karim Alaibegovic, according to Fabrizio Romano, after making contact with the German side.
The reporter claims the Blues have yet to make a formal offer for the forward, despite talks of a £34m bid, and that the player is yet to make a decision on his destination despite interest from Italian teams.
Earlier this week, the Telegraph reported that Chelsea were the frontrunners to sign the Bosnian international, who is valued at £30 million by the Bundesliga side.
The Evening Standard reports that the club may need to sell Neto to make room to sign Alaybegovic, meaning a £30m deal for the young forward could end the Portugal international’s career at Stamford Bridge.
The Bosnian winger is unproven in the Premier League, but the 18-year-old attacker’s stats at RB Salzburg in 2025/26 suggest he could be a better option than Neto in the long term.
25/26 Bundesliga | Alazibegovic | Rank vs LW |
|---|---|---|
xG | 4.67 | Top 12% |
shot | 88 | Top 1% |
the goal | 9 | Top 8% |
Shah | 4.83 | Top 4% |
An opportunity has arisen | 37 | Top 8% |
A big opportunity has arisen | 9 | Top 6% |
assist | 3 | Top 30% |
The former Salzburg star’s percentile ranking against other wingers in Austria’s top flight suggests he could develop into a consistent scorer for the Blues across a number of scoring metrics.
While he is a prolific goalscorer and an efficient goalscorer as well as a prolific creator of his teammates, Neto is an inconsistent goalscorer who has yet to score more than five goals in a single league campaign for the club.
The 18-year-old wing wizard also caught the attention of the Bosnian squad with a stunning goal against Qatar at the World Cup, making one of his four shots in the tournament.
This is bad news for Neto, as Chelsea have clearly seen enough to suggest he could be a great signing for the team given his contract negotiations with Leverkusen.
Arazibegovic comes in as a replacement for the former Wolves star and could bring further contributions to the team, particularly at the top end of the pitch as a goalscorer, which is why the Blues should consider selling him to fund a move for the £30m-valued star this summer.
