Arsenal have confirmed the signing of Norberto Neto from Bournemouth on a season-long loan.
The 35-year-old goalkeeper joins as backup to David Raya after the Gunners refused to pay the €30 million release clause of Espanyol stopper Joan Garcia.
In truth, sticking a veteran on the bench and saving the cash for a rainy day probably isn’t the worst turn of events. Also, it’ll be fun to see how he gets on with Ben White given their long-standing beef.
Neto started his career in Brazil with Athletico Paranaense before spells with Fiorentina, Juventus, Valencia and Barcelona. He was an Arsenal target back in 2021 before joining Bournemouth in 2022.
Neto’s arrival at Arsenal follows Aaron Ramsdale’s move to Southampton which was completed earlier today.
The Gunners are set to recoup a guaranteed £18 million from the sale of the England international with a further £6 million made up in add-ons.
In his first interview with the club, Neto said: “I’m realising a dream in my life, a dream come true, and I’m really, really happy.
“I had two dreams as a kid to play for a football team. It was my team in Brazil, where I grew up and became a professional footballer, and also Arsenal. And now I’m realising it! I’m a really lucky person.
“To all the supporters of Arsenal, I’d just like to say I’m one more fan here. My dream has come true, I’m really happy. Depend on me, I’ll give more than 100% to give everything for Arsenal.”
Meanwhile, Arsenal continue a late pursuit of Raheem Sterling on loan from Chelsea, with talks continuing between one football club and one basket case organisation that we hope goes bankrupt.
Great, another strong back-up was needed.
Yup. Good quality, experienced deputy. All-in-all, more excellent work from Eduteta. Rammers had to go and we got a pretty decent fee and brought in good cover quick when option 1 wasn’t the right price. If we bring in Sterling (and Eddie’s deal gets confirmed), this becomes an A-rating transfer window, borderline A+. Our selling capacity went from nothing to excellent. IMO, if those last two deals happen we will have addressed EVERYTHING we needed this window – even though it is clear Sterling wasn’t #1 option, he’s absolutely a top-level player of exceptional quality and the loan retains our… Read more »
Hope we fork out little sterling on Sterling
When reading Neto’s comments to the fans, I saw a percentage out of the corner of my eye. Before reading that it was him saying he would be giving “more than 100%…for Arsenal,” I liked to imagine it was him plugging a small business or side-hustle of sorts.
“To all the supporters of Arsenal, I’d like to just say that I’m offering everyone 10% off your first order at NorbertosNetos.neto”
Necessary. While worrying about the striker situation, the GK could have been even worse.
If Raya did a hammy and we only had a youngster available to play a load of games… nightmare!
Welcome Neto!
“…. one football club and one basket case organisation that we hope goes bankrupt”. Tell em.
That might be the line of the year for this whole website.
Is he our Net zero initiative?
So he is unable to play in the Carabou Cup so will only get matches in the early rounds of the FA Cup. Definitely not going to play in the league or CL unless Raya is injured or suspended.
We got Almunia’s twin. Hopefully Raya will be fit all season.
He reminds me a little bit of a singer from Coldplay 😀
Doesn’t look a day over 35. Welcome Neto!
Yep, Arteta has definitely been photo-shopped in. It’s the same picture as when Merino signed.
experienced, used to the premier league, no transfer fee, small wages, won’t complain about minutes given, nor is gonna block hein’s or garcia’s inclusion next year if one of them come with us next season. all things considered, a good signing. we’re clearly setting up for another goalkeeper saga next summer, but at least for this season things are fine.
Great day of transfer business for us. I think we’ll go in for Garcia either in the winter window or next summer. I have full confidence in the way we go about our transfer business and Sterling is an absolute no brainer
EPL proven …not sure about his feet but I think he can play a bit (bar Ederson none I can think of is as good as Raya) and I do rate him as a shot stopper. Ist string Raya cost 27 mil so given Arteta’s penchant for not rotating logic follows that his backup should cost significantly less but should still be dependable when call upon for whatever reason…I think Neto is that albeit as a stop gap short term solution.
He looks like Merino to me