Arsenal to make official contact for £100m Chelsea ace in January – report

Arsenal and Manchester City look set to battle for Chelsea winger Pedro Neto in the January transfer window, according to a report, though there is conflicting information over his potential price tag.

Neto picked up interest from Arsenal, City, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Al-Hilal over the summer. Liverpool considered the Portugal star amid their search for a new right winger to replace Mohamed Salah, while Neto is one of several Chelsea players Enzo Maresca wants to reunite with at City.

The Cityzens completed a record-equalling £125million swoop for Enzo Fernandez on deadline day, and Maresca also remains a fan of right-back Malo Gusto.

As per CaughtOffside, Arsenal, City and Al-Hilal are the clubs ‘most interested’ in Neto, with the trio ‘keeping tabs’ on his situation heading towards the January window.

Numerous ‘inquiries’ have been made via intermediaries in recent weeks, showing Neto’s name remains a live option for top clubs.

The report adds: ‘The agency and the player’s representatives are keeping lines open with the transfer committees of interested clubs to assess market conditions and lay the groundwork.

‘Clubs closely tracking the player are expected to re-establish official contact with Chelsea’s board during the winter transfer window, guided by final reports from their scouting and data analytics teams.’

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is looking for a ‘dynamic, Premier League-proven game-changer’ to compete with Bukayo Saka and Christos Tzolis on either wing, while Maresca and City view Neto as an ‘explosive’ wide man capable of producing ‘1v1 execution down the flanks’.

The report claims Chelsea value Neto at €70-80m (£60-69m), but our sources state the Blues actually want a huge fee of £100m to sell the attacker.

We revealed on Thursday that Neto did not push to leave Stamford Bridge during the summer as he is happy at Chelsea and is looking to become a key player under new manager Xabi Alonso.

The 26-year-old is operating as a right wing-back under Alonso, and he scored in their 4-3 win over Brighton last weekend.

Pedro Neto could be next big Chelsea departure

It remains to be seen whether an enticing offer from Arsenal or City could get Neto to reconsider his future at Chelsea.

BlueCo ideally do not want to sell Neto, but the Fernandez deal proved that if there is a huge offer on the table, they will consider it. After all, the £125m sale of Fernandez will seriously bolster Chelsea’s financial position.

Arsenal signing Neto would continue the growing trend of the Gunners negotiating deals directly with Chelsea.

Kai Havertz, Noni Madueke, Raheem Sterling and Kepa Arrizabalaga are just some recent examples of transfers between the two London rivals.

But some Arsenal fans will question whether Andrea Berta actually needs to sign Neto, as Saka and Madueke are already in Arteta’s squad. It would make more sense for Berta to snare a specialist left winger, such as Nico Williams.

Meanwhile, Fabrizio Romano has revealed two special clauses in Ethan Nwaneri’s loan switch to Borussia Dortmund.