Arsenal have struck gold with an “incredible” multi-millionaire talent over Neto

It's been a surprisingly quiet transfer window for Arsenal this summer, especially compared to the past two years.

So far, the only real addition to the first team has been Riccardo Calafiori, and while Mikel Merino's move to the team is said to be imminent, it has only felt “closer” for about a month now.

What makes this a problem is that fans can see other teams getting stronger, be it Tottenham Hotspur taking Dominic Solanke, Liverpool looking for Martin Zubimendi, or Chelsea surprisingly signing Pedro Neto, who was expected to move to the Emirates. several times in the past few months.

Now, while missing out on Neto is far from ideal, fans can take solace in the fact that the club already has a better player in that position, and he is worth millions more.

The latest on Pedro Neto

Yes, on Friday afternoon, David Ornstein of The Athletic confirmed that Chelsea have reached an agreement with Wolverhampton Wanderers for their star winger Neto.

According to Ornstein, the Blues will pay the Old Gold a fee of €60m plus €3m in add-ons, which translates to a total of £54m, which was later confirmed by Sky Sports News and BBC Sport.

It's undeniably a big fee for a player who has missed 100 games in the past three campaigns, but in the 24 games he played last season, he scored three goals and provided 11 assists, so the talent is clearly there.

It is a surprising move, however, as, in the past few weeks, the two clubs most heavily linked with the Portugal international have been Arsenal and their North London rivals, Spurs.

There will be a certain degree of disappointment among Arsenal fans who were delighted by Neto's quality, but this one transfer should not worry them too much about missing out, as they already have a very important option in that position.

Bukayo Saka's rating in 2024

Yes, the player in question is Hale End star Bukayo Saka, who, according to Transfermarkt, is worth €140m, which is £120m, or £66m more than Neto.

Having a player of such value is admirable for a club regardless of how much they spend to sign him, but when you consider that the Englishman came out of the academy and didn't cost the club a dime in signing money, it's surprising.

Moreover, it is a completely appropriate assessment, as for years now, the “unbelievable” winger, as called by talent scout Jacek Kulig, has been the star of the show at the Emirates.

For example, despite being only 22 years old, he has played 226 senior games for the North Londoners, where he has scored 58 goals and provided 53 assists, which equates to an average goal involvement every 2.03 games.

However, he took another step forward last season, as in only 47 games for Arteta's team, he scored 20 goals and provided 14 assists, which means he produced an average goal involvement of 1.38 every game, which is more surprising than Neto's rating is one. every 1.71 games last season.

What's more, unlike Chelsea's new man, the Ealing-born talisman has a relatively clean bill of health, missing just 15 games for club and country throughout his career, compared to a staggering 126 for the Portugal international.

Ultimately, Arsenal need to sign a quality backup to Saka this summer, but given the price and his horrific injury record, they may have made the right call by not going for Neto.