In an official announcement, it has been confirmed that one of Chelsea’s latest signees, Pedro Neto will be wearing a new jersey number for the rest of the 2024/2025 club football season.
Chelsea have officially announced that Pedro Neto will be changing his shirt number from 19 to 7 for the remainder of the season. The number 7 jersey was previously worn by Raheem Sterling, who has now been moved away from the first-team squad.
This decision was confirmed by Chelsea’s manager, Enzo Maresca, earlier on Wednesday, as he revealed that both Sterling and Ben Chilwell are currently training separately from the main squad.
Speaking on the reason behind this decision Enzo stated, “I have been honest, he will have no minutes here. I am not saying Raheem is not a good player but I prefer different kinds of wingers. It’s simple. I told Raheem he’s going to struggle to get minutes with us. Chilly, he’s going to struggle here too”.
Neto, who recently joined Chelsea from Wolves, initially wore the number 19 shirt during Chelsea’s match against Manchester City last Sunday. Neto had expressed his excitement as regards the move to Stamford Bridge. In his recent interview he stated, “I feel really grateful to have joined this club, I have worked really hard in my career to be here and I’m looking forward to getting on the pitch with this shirt.”
In addition to Neto’s number change, the club has also confirmed that new signing Joao Felix will don the number 14 shirt. Chelsea has stated that all squad numbers are still subject to change until the close of the transfer window, indicating potential further adjustments as the team finalizes its roster.