Manchester City see Wolves winger Pedro Neto as their top transfer target and are ready to battle Arsenal for the 23-year-old.
FootballTransfers can reveal that City are willing to allow Neto first-team football to beat the Gunners to a player who has long been tracked by the Emirates club.
Bernardo Silva and Ruben Dias spoke with the player and advised him to sign for the Etihad club.Such a tactic has become ingrained in Pep Guardiola’s transfer playbook, with FootballTransfers revealing in the summer that the former Barcelona boss sent Kevin De Bruyne to persuade Jeremy Doku to leave Rennes for the four-time winners.City want to make it clear to Neto that he will have a prominent role in their first team next season.
The Portuguese have decided that if he leaves Wolves, it will be at a club where he will get plenty of playing time.Guardiola is ready to accommodate him by moving Phil Foden into a more central role, with the manager looking for another regular defender to replace him.
This is bad news for Arsenal in their pursuit of Neto, as Mikel Arteta is unlikely to give the winger the same assurances in the first team. The winger is unlikely to replace Bukayo Saka in the Gunners’ pecking order, and even if the England star were to switch sides, it would raise the question of what could happen to Gabriel Martinelli.
Neto enjoyed a remarkable season at Wolves, scoring or assisting in eight Premier League matches before succumbing to a hamstring problem that ruled him out for much of November and December.Now fit again, the Wolves star is looking to return to his best form and fully convince Man City that he is worthy of a starting place next season.
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