In a team made up of and captained by players of the stature of Rui Patrício, Rúben Neves, João Moutinho, Amada Traoré or Raúl Jiménez, for much of the 2020/2021 season, Molineux’s spotlights focused on a small but cheeky 20-year-old footballer years. Pedro Neto shone with the Wolves in his second season in England, but an untimely injury caused the lights to go out overnight. On April 9, 2021, on matchday 31 of the league championship, the Portuguese footballer was substituted after 32 minutes of the match due to discomfort in his left knee. Days later, the worst news was confirmed. “Pedro Neto suffered a significant kneecap injury during the match against Fulham and, following a review with a knee specialist in London over the weekend, an operation is planned for later this week,” Wolverhampton said in a statement on April 12.
While the Wolves announced that “unfortunately, he is not expected to play again until next season”, the footballer himself communicated on his social networks days later that “The operation went well. I’m already focused on my recovery.” and thanked for the shows of support received. Nuno Espírito Santo was left without one of his fundamental attacking pieces – 5 goals and 5 assist goals in 35 games, 31 of them as a starter – and Pedro Neto began a hard road back to the pitch. A path that has borne fruit at the Molineux Stadium, with a victory, more than 10 months later. Against Leicester City, on matchday 26 corresponding to this season, the 21-year-old received a thunderous ovation from his fans when he jumped onto the pitch to replace his compatriot Daniel Podence. 314 days after his knee stopped a meteoric rise in the elite, Pedro Neto played the last 9 minutes of the game against the Foxes, which ended in a 2-1 local victory.
Although it has been a difficult few months for one of the biggest emerging talents in Portuguese football, who returned to group training with Wolverhampton at the beginning of February, Pedro Neto had a joy before his re-debut with the Wolves. Last November, in the process of recovering from his left knee, the English team reported that the 21-year-old player signed “a new five-year contract” with the Molineux Stadium club. The then team led by Nuno Espírito Santo, now in the hands of Bruno Lage, extended the Portuguese attacker’s contract until 2026. A clear show of support, as well as satisfaction for the performance shown to date, for a player who is present and still more future. And it is that Pedro Neto, who left for Sporting de Braga and arrived in the Premier League at the age of 20 from Lazio, has already played 80 games in the shirt of the Wolves.
The worst injury at the worst time
Pedro Neto is a fast, electric, upright footballer who is also very passionate. Of those who live the matches and celebrate the goals as if they were a fan. Qualities and characteristics that captivated Wolverhampton fans, their coaches… and Fernando Santos. On November 11, 2020, at just 20 years old, the Portugal coach made his debut for the young Portuguese pearl of the Wolves with the absolute Portuguese team. And it is that since its debut –a friendly against Andorra in which Portugal took the win 7-0–, Pedro Neto already pointed out ways. A goal in 45 minutes that preceded the 2 assists he provided against Luxembourg in the qualifying match for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, the third (second official) of the three games he has played, to date, as a full international with Portugal.
Another meteoric rise, as far as the national team is concerned, which was also slowed down by the knee injury. Pedro Neto was among those chosen by Fernando Santos to form Portugal’s attack at Euro 2020. And it is that it was planned that the leader of the Portuguese U-21 team would join Cristiano Ronaldo, André Silva, Bernardo Silva, Diogo Jota and João Félix in his first major international tournament, but finally his knee forced him to say goodbye.
Pedro Neto missed the remainder of the 2020/2021 season with Wolverhampton and was unable to attend the European Championship with Portugal, which would have been an even greater showcase for the Portuguese pearl. However, for the Wolvesremoving the 21-year-old player from the spotlight for a while also had its “positive” part. Before the patella of his left knee said ‘enough’, the performance and level offered by Pedro Neto had set off alarms in several of the great teams in the Premier League. To the point that Manchester United, according to information published by the British newspaper The Sunhad sounded out the Portuguese soccer player from Wolverhampton as an option to reinforce his attack in case of not being able to close the signing of Jadon Sancho. Some siren songs that, now with Pedro Neto back on the playing fields, will not take long to return if the Portuguese jewel is capable of recovering the level that he already showed in the Wolves last course.