Pedro Neto is the latest Chelsea player to speak on the tough competition at Chelsea right now, and he says it’s so intense that the players are getting no sleep!
That’s what we like to hear, right? Obviously he doesn’t mean it in a literal sense!
Myself and Jai will be focusing today’s Podcast on the competition in the squad and going into it in more detail, but I think we can all agree now that Chelsea striving to have a two top players for every position this season, as we reported they wanted to do at the start of the summer on here, has been very smart due to all the games we will be playing this season and as well as covering injuries.
Neto has shown a top mentality whilst speaking about the competition this week.
He says:
“When you arrive at a big club, it’s a new adaptation. Maybe in Wolverhampton, I was going to play maybe 90 per cent of the games.
“Here, I have to work even more or maybe I’ll not play because the coach will rotate the players. It makes you play even better because you know that you have to work.
“With the amount of quality that we have here, no one can sleep. As the coach has said: ‘Everyone will not play every game’.
“We have to work hard and make for ourselves and continue to to do it every weekend, every training session, every game. It’s the mentality that I hope can take us to the top.”
Neto, and the rest of the squad, will simply HAVE to elevate themselves and play with consistency if they want to play for Chelsea this season, and that is a great thing for us and for the club. Levels need to stay high, and competition does that.
Speaking of levels, Neto has admitted that he is not yet at the top of his, and he is also not yet fully fit.
“At the moment, I’m not at my level, but I’m getting there,” Neto continued. “I know that I will arrive at my top form and I will enjoy it.
“I continue to work. I continue to work on my confidence, on my football, on the adaptation, and I hope to be [at full fitness] as soon as as I can.”
This is honest and open, and I like that.
The Neto signing excited me in the summer, and not just because it came from nowhere. I rate him. But he needs to play on the right for me, and he needs to find his levels and get to full fitness. I think when he does that we will see a confident and quality player.
We have all seen that he’s not there yet and needs to improve, but it makes sense hearing him say this about his fitness too. He’ll get there I am sure.