Pedro Neto: Is his injury record enough to stop Liverpool transfer?

Liverpool are reportedly considering a move for Pedro Neto in the transfer record. But is his injury record enough to stop that?

The Standard are just one outlet reporting that Liverpool are fans of Pedro Neto. The Portuguese winger has been in fantastic form for Wolves this season and he's been one of the best young wide players in the Premier League for some time.

It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, then, that Liverpool would have eyes on Neto. After all, they will eventually need a replacement wide player for Mohamed Salah and Neto could fit the bill nicely.

Neto has nine assists in the Premier League this season, the same number as Salah. No player has more than 10, for context, and no player averages more per 90 minutes than the 24-year-old Wolves star (0.54 assists per 90).

He is unquestionably a brilliant player but there is one enormous question that hangs over his head: does his injury record make a transfer impossible to justify?

Here's a look at that injury record.

Pedro Neto's injury record

Neto's first two Wolves seasons were very good, with three goals and three assists in his 2019/20 season as a 19-year-old. He followed that with five goals and six assists in 2020/21 and established himself as one to watch in the Premier League.

He had picked up a couple of injuries across his first time at the club, missing around six games at the start of 2019/20. He then missed around four games after the restart that summer as the Premier League season was postponed. All in all, though, there was nothing unusual or worrying.

But Neto ended the 2020/21 season with an awful knee injury in April 2021. It kept him out for nearly a year - he wouldn't play again until February 2022.

That meant he went from 60 games across his first two Premier League seasons to just 13 in 2021/22. Only five of those were starts.

And unfortunately, last season wasn't smooth, either. Neto missed four months of football with an ankle injury. It limited him to just 18 Premier League appearances in 2022/23 and under 1000 minutes. Ahead of this campaign, he'd made just 18 starts in two seasons.

Then there's this season. Neto suffered a hamstring issue in October that ruled him out until Boxing Day, costing him nine games. He then spent a couple of months staying strong, but suffered a second hamstring issue earlier this month.

The incredibly worrying thing there is that it's the same issue but on his other hamstring.

So the last few seasons have seen a horrendous knee injury, a serious ankle problem, and injuries to both hamstrings.

Should Liverpool sign Pedro Neto?

In all honesty, probably not. The Standard's report says Wolves would demand over £60m for Neto as they're chasing a club-record sale.

That is far, far too risky for any club. This isn't a case of Neto having a problem that hasn't been dealt with properly but instead, it seems his body isn't adjusting properly to football post-knee injury.

So as talented as he is - and again, Neto is a brilliant player - you can't be paying £60m for someone who hasn't started even half a season's league games in three years.