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‘Incredible’: Coach compares Wolves youngster to Barcelona superstar

General view outside the stadium as fans arrive prior to the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Chelsea FC at Molineux on Dec...
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Pedro Neto
Photo by PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP via Getty Images

Wolverhampton Wanderers starlet Pedro Neto is capable of ‘incredible’ things and is comparable with Barcelona captain Lionel Messi, former coach Telmo Sousa said in quotes reported by Marca.

Wolves fans might have been a little concerned when Diogo Jota was sold to Liverpool over the summer.

But, worry not, there is another Portuguese winger going from strength to strength at Molineux in this post-Jota era.

The 20-year-old has developed quicker than anyone might have expected in the Black Country, forming a formidable partnership with fellow Iberian Daniel Podence and running rings around Premier League defences with his searing pace and seemingly endless energy reserves.

Yet Neto’s rapid rise will not have come as a surprise to a man who knows him better than most.

“Pedro stood out at a very early age for his technique, he  always played above his level (in the youth teams),” said Sousa, who coached Neto at Perspectiva em Jogo.

Photo by BEN STANSALL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

“He is a very intelligent boy and is still something of a ‘street player’ – he is very rebellious, fantastic.”

Neto’s stunning season continued in midweek as he marked his first appearance for the Portuguese national team with a goal, controlling a bouncing ball before fizzing a clinical shot into the roof of the Andorra net during a crushing 7-0 win.

“It was an incredible thing, like Messi,” Sousa reflected. “He caught the ball, deceived everyone, sent the ball over the goalkeeper and scored.”

Photo by David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images