Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson
Paul Merson was impressed by one of Chelsea’s summer signings (Picture: Sky Sports)

Paul Merson fears Arsenal may have missed a trick by letting Chelsea sign Pedro Neto, claiming the Portuguese forward is ‘unplayable’ on his day.

Chelsea continued their extraordinary spending spree by signing Neto in a £54m deal from Wolves last week.

The 24-year-old spent five seasons at Wolves, largely impressing and developing into one of the club’s most important players despite enduring some injury woes.

Neto was a long-term target for Arsenal so it came as somewhat of a surprise that Chelsea quickly secured his signature without a great deal of competition.

Reports in the week suggested that Mikel Arteta was swayed against the move due to Neto’s injury record, but Merson believes the club may live to regret that decision.

‘If Chelsea can keep him fit, I think it is an incredible signing,’ the former Arsenal star said on Sky Sports.

If you want to play a certain way of football, similar to Man City and Arsenal where they play two wide players and get the ball out – this is what Chelsea need to do.

Pedro Neto of Chelsea during a session at Chelsea Training Ground
Pedro Neto joined from Wolves in a £54m deal (Picture: Getty)

‘If you can get Neto on the pitch, he is top draw. I think Arsenal missed a trick with him.

‘If he goes to Arsenal he takes the workload of [Bukayo] Saka and [Gabriel] Martinelli.

‘Chelsea were very shrewd – they did it very quickly and very quietly. [it’s a] good signing.’

Not everyone is convinced about the signing, however, with Roy Keane suggesting that Neto’s injury record is too much of a risk.

‘No! He’s always injured! F*** sake. He’s like [Luke] Shaw,’ Keane replied when asked on The Overlap with Sky Bet if it was a good signing for Chelsea.

‘He’ll add to the chaos. He’s going to add to the chaos. He will run everywhere and then spend six months on the treatment table with a hamstring injury.’

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