19/10/2026
🎴| Joe Cole on why Chelsea were right to keep Pedro Neto:💙🔥🥶
“I remember hearing all that talk about Manchester City and Neto, and I kept thinking, Chelsea cannot afford to lose a player like that.
I understand why people get excited about Joao Pedro, Palmer and Rogers. They’re brilliant players, and you can spend an entire afternoon discussing how those three might play together.
But somewhere in that conversation, people started talking as if Pedro Neto was the one who would have to make room.
I don’t think Pedro agreed with that arrangement.
When you’re a winger, you hear these things. You can pretend you don’t read anything, but somebody always sends you something. A friend, your brother, someone in the dressing room.
I can imagine Neto looking at one of those predicted line-ups and saying, ‘That’s interesting. Where have they put me?’
‘On the bench, Pedro.’
‘Right. We’ll see about that.’
And that’s the attitude you want. Not somebody complaining to the newspapers. Somebody who makes it difficult for the manager to leave him out.
The thing I love about Neto is that he doesn’t need 15 touches to decide what he’s going to do. He sees the space and he’s gone. Defenders know he’s quick, but knowing it and dealing with it are two very different things.
Against Everton, the first half was tight. You could see why they’d been so difficult to beat. They weren’t giving Chelsea much.
Then the second half starts, and within seconds Neto has scored.
Imagine being an Everton defender. You’ve spent the break listening to instructions about keeping things organised, you come back out, and before you’ve properly settled, he’s already celebrating.
And then he gets another near the end. Two goals, away from home, against a team that came into the match unbeaten.
That’s a serious statement.
What I like about Xabi Alonso is that he’s not treating the names on the team sheet like a popularity contest. He’s trusted Pedro Neto, and Pedro’s giving him reasons to kee