Yes, that’s yellow journalism at its best, but I couldn’t resist. As the international break drags on, there’s bound to be a dearth of actual news. Think of it as a precursor to the January window, during which rumours and actual transfers may transpire. With tongue planted firmly in cheek and grains of salt confidently taken, we can kick the tyres on one of the wilder transfer rumours to be making the rounds, that of one Pedro Neto from Wolves to Woolwich—sorry, to Arsenal. Alliteration has a way of getting away with me…
At first blush, one might wave this one off. Wolves doing business with Arsenal after our recent history? That would almost amount to, say, Stoke selling us Crouch or Adam or Begović. It’s not that we have a history with Wolves as fraught as that with Stoke, but Wolves have done a decent job of deputising as the villains du jour in the absence of any other villainous rivals. Simply put, we’ve seized the upper hand from them quite a few times of late, quite famously on a few occasions, and they’e taken exception to our celebrations…as if we were celebrating victory over them rather than celebrating a step towards a much larger goal, such as qualifying for Champions League play. To have lost to us late on at Molineux way back in February 2022 must have been both galling and inspirating: “beating us matters!”
To this day, Wolves supporters complain of our celebrations, mistaking them as signs of some kind of rivalry, as if we’re equals. Pfft. We celebrated a step toward that Champions League spot, which we failed to secure, but on that day in February, that win felt momentous, not because of the foe but because of the larger stakes. One day, one of us will explain it to Wolves fans in terms they can understand.
In the meantime, there’s talk of us going after Pedro Neto, the Portguese winger who’se already chipped in a goal and five assists for a side that scores about as often as a Jesuit priest. That’s a dramatic increase on his 2022-23 season in which he contributed a grand total of…one assist in 18 appearances totalling 1,061 minutes. If the 23 year old continues on this trajectory, he’ll break the Prem League assists record before Boxing Day.
More seriously, as I’d discussed in a previous post, we are in dire need of cover for our starboy. While we have a plethora of options on the left, Saka is still our only viable, reliable option on the right (true because it rhymes). While some among us salivate for Osimhen or Toney, they’d each cost a pretty penny, upwards of
More seriously, as I’d discussed in a previous post, we are in dire need of cover for our starboy. While we have a plethora of options on the left, Saka is still our only viable, reliable option on the right (true because it rhymes). While some among us salivate for Osimhen or Toney, they’d each cost a pretty penny, upwards of
More seriously, as I’d discussed in a previous post, we are in dire need of cover for our starboy. While we have a plethora of options on the left, Saka is still our only viable, reliable option on the right (true because it rhymes). While some among us salivate for Osimhen or Toney, they’d each cost a pretty penny, upwards of £80m or more, and each would be carrying more baggage than the club would care to deal with. By contrast, Neto could probably be prised away for a half that figure, and, aside from our contentious relations with Wolves of late, the player doesn’t have any baggage to speak of.
Hell, if a bid of £40m doesn’t turn heads over there, we could throw in a few make-weights. I don’t think any of us would lose sleep over a £30m bid with Nketiah thrown in. By the time the January window opens, we may know enough about Havertz or Smith Rowe (even if merely mentioning the latter feels sacrilegious) to offer one or the other to sweeten the pot.
There’s tentative or tenuous precedent here. Neto’s agent also represents Fabio Vieira. Read into that what you will. Before you take too much encouragement from that, that same agent also represents João Félix, João Cancelo, Bernardo Silva, Ederson, and Darwin Núñez. He’s either a Machiavellian mastermind or a Benny Hill caricature.
In either case, we’d do well to monitor Neto’s progress. He’s not yet Prem-proven but could reach that level by January. The early returns are promising, to say the least. If nothing else, signing such a key player from a club with whom we’ve had such a contentious rivalry of late would stand as something of a coup, maybe enough of one to convince even the harshest of critics of Edu and Arteta might have to admit that this braintrust might just have an inkling of what it takes to run a successful club.
Time will tell. It’s anyone’s guess as to how our fortunes, Wolves’ fortunes, or Neto’s fortunes will develop between now and january.
Arrogant prat
And it,s not Neto your talking about.
Condescending and arrogant to Englands first great club
This ridiculous article seems like it’s written by a narcissist sociopath.
More than likely radicalised at university into believing they’re special
Grow up.. We are no longer having to sell. It will be 80 million and he recently signed a 4 year contract!
Seriously why do do you repeat more seriously again and again.
Do do deliberate by the way because it scans.
I agree with Neto being an upcoming young player with huge potential but I doubt he would come to Arsenal knowing it would difficult to get minutes. I also doubt Arsenal would use Eddie for exchange, too risky if Jesus goes off injured again. I also think Jesus did a wonderful on the right when needed to rotate or if Saka is injured.
Fair points. Is Neto the kind of player who would trade a lead role at a smaller club to get a bit role at a larger one? We depend heavily on Saka, so finding some kind of suitable cover for him is a must. In the end, I fear that Neto would leave for a club like Liverpool, where Salah is probably in his last season.
This reporter as probably ever been to a football match. Prickly of a reporter
Not sure what match attendance has to do with the situation. If we’re going to go down that road, shouldn’t we get out the yardstick to see which of us was born closest to the stadium?
You forgot to mention Arsenal pickpocketed Marquinhos off them when an agreement was in place…
Oops, and it seems that I’ve irritated a good number of Wolves fans along the way.
You haven,t irritated us we just think you are a prat.
potayto, potahto
Wolves have him under contract until 2027. Arsenal refused to pay 30m last summer. Now willing to pay over 60m for the same player? I doubt it. Liverpool more likely, sale of Salah for 200m and 80m on Neto who is only 23. Mudryk fee has set precedent for inflated transfer fees. Especially in January even more so. Will Arsenal go that big? I really doubt it
Fair points. A lot of variables to consider, including the role Neto wants to play (it might be more likely that he could replace a departing Salah and might prefer that to trying to challenge Saka). On the other hand, numerous young players have been drawn to Arteta’s plan and have flourished after arriving. Klopp has a similar record for developing young players…but he’s been at Liverpool eight years now. Will he reach his sell-by date soon? I guess we’ll have to wait until January to see if anything transpires.
It would appear that Jon’s blog is read by supporters of more clubs than Arsenal. That should warm his heart despite, as might be expected, they may not or do not agree with his opinions.
I think what happens is that NewsNow will post articles under both clubs’ sections. Whatever the case may be, I appreciate the engagement.
Jon-for some time I’ve been contempating that notion that you might be a Pedro-inspired AI creation, due to your overtly pro-Arteta agenda, and this “repetitive” blogpost does nothing to allay those fears…maybe a change of batteries and/or a simple reboot are in order lol
as for Neto, he’s supposedly been on our radar for some time now but I very much doubt we’ll invest that heavily on a player who’s been spotty at best, minus the first month and change of this season, and rather injury prone…his best season, 20/21, saw him provide 5 goals and 6 helpers in just over 2500 minutes played, which was a decent return for a young player in the PL, but this club will almost assuredly demand upwards of twice his current market value, which should be a non-starter, in light of his somewhat mixed results…furthermore, I very much doubt he will be pushing to join a club simply to become a cover piece for someone who rarely, if ever, gets rotated out of the starting 11, unless he’s injured (even then he sometimes still starts) don’t get me wrong, I think Neto’s a tidy little player, who could flourish under the right circumstances, but considering the variables stated above, I don’t think the proverbial juice is worth the squeeze
You say he is not premier league proven?Ask Man City Supporters(Title holders).Arsenal have had a few of them type players ie Maitland where did he go.
Kind of hard to parse just what you’re saying, Joe. While Neto’s about to make his 100th Prem appearance, he’s scored just ten goals. He’s attracting attention based on his potential. The fact that we’ve had players like Oxlade-Chamberlain or Maitland-Niles shine briefly before flickering out isn’t a criticism of Arsenal, as you seem to imply.
Of course Arsenal are a bigger club than Wolves, although this dickhead has greatly exaggerated any supposed ill feeling Wolves have towards Arsenal.
On the subject of Neto £30/40mil plus Saka would probably be good business for both clubs. Arsenal would get an upgrade to their attack to help there attempts at Premiership and Champions league success; while Wolves would get a good replacement without much drop in quality and money to strengthen elsewhere. The snag is that this deal probably wouldn’t appeal to Saka.
I guess I would prefer that you not try to hurt my feelings with childish name-calling. Any exaggeration I’m guilty of is a result of the audience to which I cater, which I assume to consist entirely of other Gooners and is offered more as satire or snark rather than objective fact. Wolves didn’t like when we celebrated after winning. That’s understandable. If my making light of it strikes a nerve, then the issue may lie with those letting themselves get worked up than in my comments.
Your arrogance is to be expected from one of the so called big six. You talk of our famous club the one that gave Europe what would ultimately be called The Champions League, as if we are a bit of shite on your shoe. How dare you be so smug with your comments you should be embarrassed to talk such rubbish. Pedro Neto was a superb player in the Greed League prior to his shocking injuries which held his career back for two seasons.Im not even convinced he would want to join such a self indulgent bunch of hypocrites.
Well, I’ve certainly struck a nerve with you. I apologise. I assume that my audience consists entirely of other Gooners and am therefore guilty of excessive snark at the expense of other clubs. However, I feel that you’re being a bit harsh. Wolves are one of the oldest clubs in British football and have another one-up on us as one of the First Division’s founding members. Still, your attempt to snidely mock our status as a member of the “so-called” big six falls a bit flat and sniffs just a bit of envy and spite more than of reason or fact.
At any rate, I appreciate your coming by and wish you all the best.
Jon-no need to appease these sheep in Wolve’s clothing, as you simply put truth to words….if these lightweights can’t handle a few jabs, especially from a member of a fanbase who knows all too well about the pitfalls that can arise when one refuses to remove their respective blinders, they’re in for a rough ride moving forward…in the last couple seasons they’ve played 90+ minutes of meaningful football a handful of times, which includes their first match this year and their recent upset of City…otherwise they’ve been a borefest of epic proportions…in fact, they responded more times to this article than they actually scored goals in the whole of last season…sometimes the truth hurts