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Manchester City had been looking at a player Enzo Maresca knows well from his time at Chelsea.

Manchester City have decided against pursuing a Chelsea player whom manager Enzo Maresca is very familiar with from his days at Stamford Bridge.

The FA Cup holders were thrashed 3-0 in the Italian’s first competitive match as Manchester City manager, with Premier League champions Arsenal underlining how much rebuilding may be required after Pep Guardiola’s exit.

Although the Citizens have shown interest in a couple of Chelsea players, it now appears their pursuit of one of them has cooled.

Saudi Arabian outlet Sada has reported that City had been exploring the possibility of signing Pedro Neto, but Maresca’s side have now dropped their interest after Al Hilal reached an agreement.

Italian journalist Gianluigi Longari said in a post on X that the Saudi Pro League club have agreed both personal terms and club-to-club terms with Chelsea for the 26-year-old.

Longari also stated that City’s Savinho remains an alternative to Neto, with the Brazilian strongly linked with Tottenham Hotspur, which means City may have had the option of offering one of their own players in order to land Neto.

Al Hilal are also in discussions with Aston Villa over Ollie Watkins, while Galatasaray’s Victor Osimhen, who is a target for Arsenal, remains the Saudi club’s “dream” striker.

City are also being heavily linked with Enzo Fernandez, as Maresca wants to work again with the Argentine following their spell together in West London.

FourFourTwo understands that Chelsea have no strong intention of selling and do not want the situation to drag into the Premier League season, which begins this Friday, though they are more open to Neto leaving.

The Portuguese winger joined Stamford Bridge in 2024 from Wolverhampton Wanderers after three injury-hit seasons at Molineux, but he stayed fit enough to make 51 appearances and 52 appearances respectively across his first two seasons in all competitions.

Even with that availability, Neto has found it difficult to produce consistently, scoring only 19 goals across those 103 matches and never truly establishing himself on either the right or left wing.

With the arrival of Morgan Rogers and new manager Xabi Alonso likely to prefer a three-at-the-back system, Neto may not have an obvious role in the Blues’ future plans.

Transfermarkt values Neto at €60 million. Chelsea face Fulham when Premier League action resumes this weekend.