Roberto Martinez believes Pedro Neto can reach one other level and grow to be a consistently ‘influential’ player for Chelsea.
Portugal winger Neto has scored 19 goals in 89 appearances since completing a £54m move from Wolves in 2024.
Three of those goals got here in Chelsea’s 4-0 victory over Hull City within the FA Cup, with Neto not scoring within the Premier League since early December.
Neto’s international manager, Portugal boss Martinez, believes the 25-year-old continues to be ‘adapting’ to playing for a club of the dimensions of Chelsea and says there’s more to come back from him.
Asked what’s stopping Neto from reaching the following level, Martinez said on The Overlap: ‘Nothing, really.
‘He’s been adapting to the variety of games Chelsea play because a game every three days is hard for him. He’s still young and he had a giant injury when he was younger.
‘I believe he’s still adapting however the moment he can play three games per week he can have that influence in every game.
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‘He’s a vertical player, someone who can open the sport up. I believed he was the major player to open the space for Cole Palmer within the Club World Cup final. His intensity was incredible.’
Discussing the difference between Neto and Chelsea legend Eden Hazard, who he worked with while answerable for Belgium, Martinez added: ‘Hazard would stop the sport and find his one vs one, he had that pause.
‘Pedro Neto is the other, he’ll speed up the sport. Neto can play on each wings, when he plays on the suitable he comes inside nevertheless it’s not going to be a slow motion prefer it sometimes was with Eden.
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‘They’re different players.’
Neto helped Chelsea qualify for the Champions League last season and lift the Conference League trophy before the Blues won the Club World Cup in the summertime.
Chelsea are fifth within the Premier League, three points behind fourth-placed Manchester United, ahead of Sunday’s London derby against leaders Arsenal.
It was Arsenal who knocked Chelsea out of the Carabao Cup within the semi-finals and Paul Merson expects the same outcomes on the Emirates Stadium this weekend.
‘We saw within the Carabao Cup how Chelsea parked the bus but they’ll’t afford to do this again,’ Merson told Sportskeeda. ‘They must go for it on this one.
‘Chelsea let in a goal every week without fail! It was a very bad result against Burnley last weekend. I expect Chelsea to be a threat but I can’t see them keeping a clean sheet on this game.
‘Aside from one or two winnable games, all the upcoming fixtures till the tip of the season will likely be an enormous challenge for Chelsea.
‘Barring the Manchester United game, Arsenal are still unbeaten at home. But this continues to be a troublesome game for them because they’ve to come back out and win this.’
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