As part of the large Portuguese contingent over at Wolverhampton Wanderers, Pedro Neto looks a deeply precocious talent. The 20-year-old signed from Lazio and has already started to get a fair amount of games, albeit mostly from the bench. He regularly plays across the forward line, though, having played both on the left and right. He’s even made some big impressions up front, having set up goals and scored goals as the teams nominal central striker.
While he’s got a lot of work to do physically, it’s fair to say that the tactical and technical ingredients are there.
What makes him so special?
For Neto, the one thing that stands out is his maturity. If you didn’t know he was a 20-year-old making some of his first senior football appearances this season, you would never have guessed. While he gives away too many fouls and can lack tactical discipline, his ability to pick out passes when on the ball and to win fouls in key areas for his team is a great asset in one so young.
He’s a strong player, too, and does a good job of holding onto the ball for his team. Add in his ability to link up with his teammates and both create and score goals, and he looks a deeply interesting prospect for the Midlands side.
His strongest asset, though, is his deep crossing and his distance shooting. An excellent striker of the ball, Neto knows how to hit a strike cleanly and keep it on target from the moment it leaves his foot. He’s got excellent technical prowess; at 20, too, his tactical skills are not as bad as you might see with other talents.
Despite his lack of gametime at this level, he looks far less raw than fans might have expected – for Wolves fans, he’s arguably the most exciting prospect at the club.