Arsenal 'leading Manchester United in race for Wolverhampton Wanderers winger Pedro Neto'

After a heavily-disputed two seasons due to injury, Neto entered 2023-24 looking to kick-start his career and under a new head coach in Gary O'Neil.

Since the Englishman's arrival at Molineux, the Portugal international has arguably put together his best run of form for Wolves, contributing one goal and seven assists from just 10 outings in the Premier League.

Neto's progress was curtailed on October 28 when he suffered a hamstring injury during the 2-2 draw against Newcastle United.

On Thursday, O'Neil revealed that the 23-year-old was making good progress in his recovery but had yet to return to the training pitch, an indication that he is expected to miss at least the next two matches.

Nevertheless, that will not stop speculation regarding his future, clubs aware that Wolves have been sailing close to FFP parameters and are eager to avoid going over the threshold.

The sale of Matheus Nunes to Manchester City for a fee of in excess of £50m has improved matters, yet the interest in Neto remains, despite his insistence several weeks ago that his desire was to remain at Wolves.

According to TEAMtalk, the expectation is that a number of clubs will up their interest in Neto in January, with Arsenal viewed as the frontrunners.

Contact has reportedly already been made between Arsenal and the player's agent — Jorge Mendes — in order to gauge whether there is any interest in a switch to the Emirates Stadium.

Although Mikel Arteta is relatively well-stocked for options in the final third, he has had to deal with a number of injuries to his attacking players during 2023-24.

Arsenal are seemingly ready to make their move for Neto