Real paid £120m for Diomande, City want £85m for Savinho… Chelsea eyeing £100m for Pedro Neto doesn’t seem so bad now

CHELSEA have set an asking price of close to £100m for any club interested in signing Pedro Neto this summer. A rip-off, right? Wrong. Pedro Neto has a near £100m asking price if he is to leave Chelsea Credit: Getty The Portugal winger (R) was involved in the build up to Morgan Rogers debut Chelsea goal on Saturday Credit: AFP With a range of suitors for Neto, 26, including Manchester City and beyond, the Blues heavy asking price will certainly be enough to put some clubs off. And while no formal bids have been put to the Stamford Bridge outfit for Neto, he has been strongly linked to Saudi side Al-Hilal this week. Sign up for the Football newsletter Thank you! The asking price at first glance seems astronomical for a winger who put up five Premier League goals and six assists last term. But in the context of this transfer window, it’s not so bad, with Manchester City holding out for £85m for Savinho, who racked up one goal and two assists in the same time period. Yan Diomande joined Real Madrid from RB Leipzig for a fee worth up to £120m, while Bradley Barcola is valued at more than £100m by PSG amid links to Liverpool this window. When you hear those figures, £100m for Neto seems a little more reasonable. And while they would sell him for the right price, as with many players, Chelsea are not actively looking to sell the player who was their best performing winger last season. He is highly appreciated internally, which is proven by the fact he started in their final friendly of pre-season, a win over Real Sociedad, but also reflected by the price tag set for his move. Most read in Sport BEST FREE BETS AND BETTING SIGN UP OFFERS With Morgan Rogers signing, and Cole Palmer expected to drift in more from the right under Xabi Alonso, Neto’s position in the team has been questioned. But it seems Alonso has a plan to make use of him as a wingback, which he did in Saturday’s 3-1 win, with it being Neto’s cross that was headed by Joao Pedro before Rogers tapped home the opener. He also featured in pre-season in a 4-2-3-1 system, in which he played more as an out and out winger, sharing minutes with Estevao, who that position perhaps suits a little more given his directness and Neto’s engine to defend as well as attack. There have been reports that Neto has agreed personal terms with Saudi side Al-Hilal, though those are unconfirmed. If Neto were to join Al-Hilal, he would reunite with former Wolves teammate Ruben Neves Credit: Reuters He would likely set up a few goals for Karim Benzema, too Credit: Reuters He is not the only player linked with a move away from the club, with Blues chiefs setting a price tag for plenty of other assets that could be gone before the window closes. Among those are Enzo Fernandez for £120m, Nicolas Jackson for £65m, and Liam Delap for £50m. But they are not alone in being up for grabs, with more than 35 ‘first-team’ players still registered to the Blues for this season, with only 18 available to be named in any given matchday squad. Comment now