Chelsea have beaten Arsenal to the signings of a few players in recent seasons.
The Blues are definitely in a mess, but they have made some big signings since Todd Boehly took charge of the club.
The one that Arsenal fans will remember is Mykhaylo Mudryk, who seemed to be on his way to the Emirates but Chelsea hijacked that deal and landed him.
Now, albeit less dramatically, the Blues have signed another player who Arsenal were big fans of, claims David Ornstein on The Transfers Podcast.
David Ornstein says Arsenal ‘made offers’ to sign Pedro Neto
Chelsea signed Pedro Neto from Wolves in a deal worth £54 million earlier in August (Sky Sports).
The Portuguese winger was a fine player for the Wanderers over the years, and he attracted interest from plenty of clubs in the Premier League.
Arsenal were heavily linked with a move to sign Neto, but no move materialised in this window or in previous years.
Chelsea decided to step up their interest a few weeks ago, and they got their man in the end without any real competition.
While speaking about Arsenal’s interest in wide players, Ornstein revealed that the decision-makers at the Emirates were huge fans of Neto when he was at Wolves.
The journalist also revealed that Arsenal ‘made offers’ to sign him, although it’s unclear if that happened this summer or in previous windows.
Ornstein said about Arsenal: “They will be looking at players and it’s just not easy at all.
“In the past, there was Pedro Neto who Arsenal’s decision-makers were big fans of and, you know, they made offers. He’s now at Chelsea.”
The real reason why Arsenal did not sign Pedro Neto
Neto made a lot of sense for Arsenal.
The Gunners need reinforcements out wide, particularly on the right wing to provide cover as well as compete with Bukayo Saka. The new Chelsea signing checked a lot of boxes.
However, the real reason why Arsenal did not sign Neto was because of his injuries during his time at Wolves.
The 24-year-old has missed a total of 50 games for club and country since the start of the 2022/23 season because of three different injuries. Arteta just didn’t want to take a risk on someone whose availability was in doubt.
Paul Merson feels Arsenal missed a trick not signing Neto, but we think the Gunners were right to stay away from him. It just wasn’t a risk worth taking.
