Pedro Neto has had a singular determination to succeed since the day he first set eyes on a professional football career.
“I remember when I met my first agent,” he recalls, thinking back to his time as a teenage academy prospect at SC Braga, in Portugal. “He asked me what I wanted to be. I just said, ‘I want to be the best’. The agent started smiling but my father wasn’t laughing and said, ‘No, this is his mentality.'”
Neto was brought up in a competitive sporting environment. His father was a professional roller hockey player, his mother played volleyball, his older twin sisters were national trampolining champions and his uncle was a professional footballer. Neto could have followed in his father’s footsteps but football won out when he joined Braga’s academy at the age of 13.
“I always idolise my father because I used to play hockey like him,” Neto continues. “The mentality I have comes from me, but of course also my education with him. When I was younger I used to see my father playing, and the attitude he had on the field I took myself when I started playing football at a young age.”
It was not easy to be away from home with Braga at such a young age. The young Neto would return from training at around 9pm each evening to his home in Viana do Castelo, a small coastal town in the far north of Portugal, just in time to have a meal with his family before getting some sleep.
“It was really good to grow, to get into a different environment, to understand more about life,” he explains. “When I left Braga I used to get messages from everybody at the academy saying they were always watching me, that they liked the way I played, so I always felt loved by the people there who cared about me. Even today I still get messages from them.”
After four years, Neto moved to Lazio, on loan with another Braga academy player, midfielder Bruno Jordao. But his two years in Rome brought just four Serie A appearances under Simone Inzaghi, and Neto admits he struggled to adapt to unfamiliar surroundings.
“That was the biggest step, but I had my father and mother with me so it was really helpful because the times that I had there were tough. It was a more different way of playing in Italy than in the Portugal and the people there were different. I was young and innocent, I had no idea about the types of personality some people could have. I grew up a lot, there.”
A permanent move to England might not have seemed like the next logical step. Wolves was different, though. With six Portuguese players already in the first-team squad working under head coach Nuno Espirito Santo, it turned out to be a home from home.
“Of course it helped a lot. The Portuguese players showed me how to work here and if I wasn’t as sharp as I should have been they’d pick up on it,” Neto adds. “The way I saw Joao Moutinho playing, the way Ruben Neves spoke to me, it showed the values and character they have. It was really important for me, the first season I had here. I learned and developed a lot with Nuno and his coaching staff. I’m thankful for the opportunity he gave me because he was the first one to give me a chance to show myself. I felt that the Premier League was the type of football that suited me well.”
Neto made huge strides during his first two seasons at Molineux, with his raw pace and trademark dribbling attracting wider attention. He attributes his running style to his childhood playing hockey and the low centre of gravity needed to weave past opponents.
But after appearing in the first 31 of Wolves’ Premier League fixtures during the behind-closed-doors 2020/21 season, a serious knee injury in April ruled him out for 10 months. He has not managed to play a full campaign since. But after recovering from two hamstring injuries last season, the winger is convinced he is beginning to return to the sort of form that made him one of the most eye-catching talents in the Premier League.
“When I arrived at Chelsea I was really thankful, but I had been injured,” he admits. “I played in the European Championship without a lot of games before that. So, I came here and said to myself straight away that I had to take time. I had to be strong mentally because through tough times with injuries I knew it would take time to get into the best shape, and here I am today working hard and trying to get into the best shape I can. At the moment, I feel really good.”
Any supporters’ fears of over lingering hamstring problems were eased with the opening goal of the 2-1 victory over Newcastle United last month. Running from deep inside his own half, Neto sped past Tino Livramento to collect a pinpoint pass from Cole Palmer. Fabian Schar’s attempted challenge was hurdled and, one pass later, Nicolas Jackson had the ball in the net.
At 24 years old, Neto fits the profile of a squad that has the potential to grow stronger together over many seasons. Chelsea have regularly fielded the youngest average Premier League starting XI this season, yet the determination to get results remains a priority.
“Of course we are really young but even in the last game [against Manchester United] you saw we were not happy with that draw,” Neto insists. “The players have the mentality to win. We knew we could have won that game and I think that mentality is important.”
So with Arsenal up next on Sunday, does Neto believe these are the big fixtures that Enzo Maresca’s side will be judged on?
“No, I don’t think so. We had two games at home to Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace, and if we want to be a top team we have to win those. We go into all the games with the mentality to win. Some games will be more difficult than others and these are the games we like to play, but if somebody says these are the games we are judged on, I don’t think so. We are judged in every match we play.
“A good thing with this group is that we go with the same mentality for all the games. The key point is the consistency, that is the point of everything.”
Neto’s personal quest to find consistency, be the best he can be, reveals itself away from the football pitch. He smiles when asked if this mentality borders on an obsession.
“Every time I arrive home I like to speak with my girlfriend and say what it is I have to do to improve, that kind of stuff,” he explains. “She will say to me, ‘You just live for football. I’m okay with that, I love the way you play it, but sometimes we just have to take your head away from football!’ When I am with [former Wolves team-mates] Ruben and Diogo Jota when we are away with the national team, it is the same, we are always speaking about football.”
Neto is happy to carry the tag of a football obsessive with a winning mentality, though. If this Chelsea team is to recapture former glories, it is a mindset that could serve them well for years to come.