S Poddar
Chelsea winger Pedro Neto has said that his adaptation to the club has not been easy as he continues to fight for places in a team with high-class players. The Portuguese winger arrived at Chelsea this summer after joining the club from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a good price and has spoken on being keen to reach his best level and feature prominently for Chelsea.
Neto scored for the first time since joining Chelsea when he scored against Barrow in the Carabao Cup. That strike marked his first at any level since February after injury setbacks. With wingers like Jadon Sancho and Joao Felix among others, Neto has admitted that no player can become complacent at Chelsea due to attacking talent depth.
“When you arrive at a big club, it is a new adaptation,” Neto said. “Maybe in Wolverhampton, I was going to play maybe 90 percent of the games. Here, I have to work even more or maybe I’ll not play because the coach will rotate the players. It makes you play even better because you know that you have to work.”
Neto’s period in Wolverhampton Wanderers is marked by reccurring injuries which affect his playing minutes and goal chances. Nevertheless the winger says he will recover to his previous form when he gets a chance to play at Chelsea.
“With the quality that we have here, no one can sleep,” Neto added. “As the coach has said: ‘Everyone will not play every game’. We have to work hard and make for ourselves and continue to do it every weekend, every training session, every game. It’s the mentality that I hope can take us to the top.”
Still in the early stages of his Chelsea career, Neto will only continue to add value to his side with time. The determined winger displays great promise to become more than an integral member of Chelsea, but first needs to get used to things and fight for his position on the pitch. Perhaps then will he be able to repeat the form that made him one of the best young wingers in the Premier League, a player he was at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
