{"id":676732,"date":"2026-01-06T02:26:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T02:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/676732\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T02:26:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T02:26:15","slug":"chelsea-line-up-british-record-move-to-sign-130m-neto-upgrade-for-rosenior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/676732\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea line up British record move to sign \u00a3130m Neto upgrade for Rosenior"},"content":{"rendered":"

To say it’s been a wild start to 2026 for Chelsea<\/a> would be something of an understatement.<\/p>\n

New Year’s Day brought news that Enzo Maresca<\/a> had left the club, and on Sunday, interim manager Calum McFarlane oversaw a spirited 1-1 draw away to Manchester City.<\/p>\n

Then, just a few hours after that, reports emerged of Strasbourg boss Liam Rosenior being in the capital to complete his move to become the new manager.<\/p>\n

\"Liam<\/p>\n

As if that wasn’t enough, the club now look set to make the most of the transfer window, and are eyeing a record-breaking move for someone who could send Pedro Neto<\/a> packing.<\/p>\n

Chelsea target Neto upgrade<\/strong><\/p>\n

In no small part due to the managerial situation and their general form, Chelsea went into Sunday’s game as massive underdogs.<\/p>\n

However, while they were certainly second-best in the first half, the Blues looked just as good, if not better than City, in the second 45 and were more than deserving of their point.<\/p>\n

However, while the likes of Reece James, Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez and even Liam Delap all took the game to the hosts, there were a few starters who underwhelmed, with Neto perhaps being the worst of the lot.<\/p>\n

After all, the Portuguese international failed to register a shot on target, missed one big chance, lost the ball 12 times, failed in 50% of his dribbles and registered an expected assists figure of just 0.02.<\/p>\n

In other words, it was a disaster class in a huge game, and therefore, it makes sense that the club would be looking to sign an upgrade on the former Wolverhampton Wanderers star.<\/p>\n

\"pedro<\/p>\n

At least that is what they appear intent on doing, according to a report from Spain<\/a>, which claims Chelsea are interested in Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In fact, the report goes further than that, revealing that the Blues are now preparing an offer worth a whopping \u20ac150m for the Brazilian international, which is approximately \u00a3130m, which would be a new British record.<\/p>\n

In good news for the West Londoners, Real Madrid have yet to come to an agreement with the winger on a new deal, and there is a belief that the player himself is open to the move.<\/p>\n

With that said, it would still be a complicated and costly transfer to get over the line for Chelsea, but one well worth pursuing, especially as Vini Jr would be a monster upgrade on Neto.<\/p>\n

How Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior compares to Neto<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first reason Neto should be worried about Chelsea potentially signing Vini Jr this year is the fact that he can and has played on both flanks before.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Sure, the Brazilian certainly favours the left, and is at his most potent there, but on top of playing numerous other positions on the pitch, he’s also made more than a few appearances off the right, for club and country.<\/p>\n

However, the far more pressing concern for the Portuguese international is that his potential new teammate is simply more dangerous than he is.<\/p>\n

For example, since the start of last season, the former Wolves star has scored 15 goals and provided 12 assists in 78 games, totalling 5298 minutes.<\/p>\n

That comes out to a reasonable enough average of a goal involvement every 2.88 games, or every 196.22 minutes.<\/p>\n

In stark contrast, the “world-class” Real Madrid star, as dubbed by Owen Hargreaves<\/a>, has scored 27 goals and provided 27 assists in 83 appearances, totalling 6488 minutes.<\/p>\n

That comes out to a far more impressive average of a goal involvement every 1.53 games, or every 120.14 minutes.<\/p>\n

\"vinicius-jr-real-madrid\"<\/p>\n

Finally, the former Santos gem also comes out miles ahead of the Blues star when comparing their underlying numbers.<\/p>\n

For example, he does better across most metrics, such as non-penalty expected goals plus assists, shots on target, key passes, shot- and goal-creating actions, tackles won, and more, all per 90.<\/p>\n\n

Vini Jr vs Neto<\/p>\n<\/tr>\n\n

Statistics per 90<\/p>\n

Vini Jr<\/p>\n

Neto<\/p>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

Non-Penalty Expected G+As<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

0.54<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

0.43<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

Shots on Target<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

1.28<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

0.64<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

Passing Accuracy<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

79.3%<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

74.2%<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

Key Passes<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

2.18<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

1.86<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

Passes into the Final Third<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

1.79<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

1.22<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

Shot-Creating Actions<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

5.72<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

3.49<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

Goal-Creating Actions<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

0.77<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

0.35<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

Tackles Won<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

0.71<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

0.35<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

Successful Take-Ons<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

3.08<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

1.57<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n

All Stats via FBref for the 25\/26 League Season<\/a><\/p>\n<\/tr>\n

Ultimately, Neto could still be a useful player for soon-to-be manager Rosenior, but if Chelsea really want to give him the best chance of success, they’d go out and sign Vini Jr to replace the former Wolves man.<\/p>\n

\"Moises-Caicedo-chelsea\"<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\t\t
\n\t\t\tImagine him & Caicedo: Chelsea plot move for “one of the best CMs in Europe”
\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

This PL ace could perfectly balance Chelsea’s midfield<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To say it’s been a wild start to 2026 for Chelsea would be something of an understatement. New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[94,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-676732","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115845790993034718","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}