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Arsenal set to intensify interest in Pedro Neto

By Ritayan Chatterjee on August 25, 2022

Arsenal are expected to intensify their pursuit of Wolves forward Pedro Neto after Nicolas Pepe secured a loan move to OGC Nice.

The Gunners are seemingly looking to add more options to their flanks before the end of the transfer window and the Portugal international is widely touted as their top target to bolster the forward line.

Mikel Arteta’s side appear to be busy in offloading fringe players before reigniting their interest in adding more firepower to their squad and the club confirmed this evening that Pepe has joined Nice on a season long loan.

Yesterday speaking on Que Gonzalo Podcast, Fabrizio Romano reported that Arsenal needed to finalize Pepe’s exit before ‘entering into the new winger deal’ and Neto is one of the names who is on Mikel Arteta’s wish-list.

The journalist further claimed that the Gunners will step up their pursuit of Neto once they offloaded the Ivorian to Nice.

Romano said:

“They have to complete the deal for Nicolas Pepe to Nice before entering into new winger deal. Arsenal’s interest (in Neto) is there, he’s one of the big names on the list. I’m sure they will be on it once they will sell Nicolas Pepe to Nice or loan him out to Nice.”

Neto to Arsenal

Now that Arsenal have finalized the departure of Nicolas Pepe, they can now focus on adding a new winger within the final few days of the transfer window and Neto would be a perfect acquisition for Arteta’s side.

It was earlier reported by the Sun journalist Daniel Cutts that Wolves want £50m for their star man but the Gunners only want to pay around £35m for the 22-year-old. So, there is a big valuation gap between the two parties.

Therefore, it will be interesting to see whether Arsenal can manage to find an agreement with Bruno Lage’s side for Neto or they will switch their focus onto other options as Yeremy Pino, Moussa Diaby and Wilfried Zaha are all being mentioned as the alternatives to the Portugal international.

The Gunners should try their best and fight until the end to sign Pedro Neto this summer. I believe the 22-year-old has every attribute that Mikel Arteta wants from his forward players. The winger is dynamic, has nimble footwork and is a very hard worker without possession.

So, the Portuguese would be a great signing for Arsenal and could become a fan favourite in no time due to his relentless work rate on and off the ball, if the club manage to get this deal over the line.