In his weekly column for The Athletic David Ornstein has confirmed that Arsenal are interested to sign Wolves’ Pedro Neto before the transfer window shuts down in 10 days’ time.
The Gunners have already added the likes of Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Fabio Vieira, Matt Turner, and Marquinhos into their ranks in the current transfer window.
However, it doesn’t appear like they will draw a line there with another attacker on their radar. The Athletic report stats that the interest in Neto is concrete and unanimous, with talks taking place with his agent, Jorge Mendes, for over a month now.
Any chance of signing a new winger hinged on club-record signing Nicolas Pepe leaving the Emirates Stadium this summer. With the Ivorian edging closer to a move to French side OGC Nice, Arsenal are now targeting a swoop for Neto.
Since his £16 million move to the Molineux in 2019, the Portuguese has scored 11 times for Wolves, assisting a further 12 times. He has been one of the better performers for The Wanderers since his arrival, which convinced the club to hand him a new five-year contract in March.
Therefore, Wolves are in a good position on the negotiation table with Arsenal for their coveted winger. Transfermarkt value Neto at just £28.8m, but in reality he’s likely to cost far more than that.
Deal difficult
Despite the London side’s firm interest in the 22-year-old, Bruno Lage sees Neto as an important part of his team, and they will be reluctant to sell this summer.
Arsenal have already spent more than £200 million in the last two summer transfer windows, and therefore they won’t spend huge money on any signing.
This deal will be complicated to complete. However, the Gunners can find a ray of optimism in their pursuit by looking at the signings manager Bruno Lage has added to the squad recently.
Goncalo Guedes and Mattheus Nunes have both made a big-money moves to Wolves recently, which might tempt the club to sell Neto to balance the books.
If Arsenal can add Neto and Youri Tielemans to the squad that is already at the disposal of manager Mikel Arteta, it will certainly make them the favourites for a top-four finish and the Europa League title.
