Over the past decade, Chelsea’s centre forward position has been something of a poisoned chalice. From Alvaro Morata to Timo Werner to Kai Havertz, from Christopher Nkunku to Romelu Lukaku to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, plenty of forwards have joined Chelsea for hefty transfer fees and mouth-watering salaries, only to fail to convince in attack. However, it seems that Chelsea may just finally have the heir to Diego Costa’s throne: Joao Pedro.
Born in Ribeirao Preto, Brazil, Pedro spent nine years at Fluminense before heading across the Atlantic and joining Watford in 2020. Despite initially having to cope with a global pandemic, Pedro managed to become a key figure in the Hornets’ attack, plying his trade in the Premier League and the Championship and racking up a total of 24 goals and 8 assists in 109 appearances. In the summer of 2023, Pedro headed south for Brighton, who had just qualified for European football for the first time, joining the club for a club-record £30 million fee. It didn’t take long for the Brazilian striker to announce himself to Brighton fans, scoring Brighton’s first Europa League goals in a 3-2 loss to AEK Athens and racking up an impressive 20 goals and 3 assists in 40 appearances, before following that up with 10 goals and 7 assists in 30 appearances across the 2024/25 season. However, Pedro’s time at the Amex would end in turbulence, with the player getting sent off on April 19 for flicking his hand into Nathan Collins’ face and earning a three-game suspension, before being dropped from the Brighton squad for a training ground incident.
As fate would have it, Pedro’s luck would improve thanks to another red card, with Nicolas Jackson getting sent off just four minutes after coming on in a 3-1 loss to Flamengo â€" his second expulsion in four matches. This lack of discipline proved instrumental in Chelsea’s decision to sign him to an eight-year contract on July 2 for a reported fee of £55m plus £5m, becoming the latest player to trade Brighton for Chelsea after Marc Cucurella and Moises Caicedo. Despite not having played in 76 days, Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca decided to throw him into the deep end against Palmeiras in Philadelphia. After replacing fellow summer signing Liam Delap in the 54th minute, he helped the Blues turn the tide and prevail with a 3-1 victory in the FIFA Club World Cup quarterfinal.
“Joao Pedro was decisive for Chelsea’s victory against Palmeiras,†stated Fluminense legend and three-time Copa Libertadores winner in an RG interview. “After he came on, everything changed: he managed to hold up the balls that reached him and create opportunities for his teammates, and he even had the chance to score a goal. I think that if he hadn’t entered, Palmeiras would have gone through to the semifinals. He’s a super dangerous player who knows the club, having come through Fluminense’s youth ranks…he’s not just Chelsea’s #9, but he has everything to become Brazil’s #9 as well.â€
Since then, Pedro has managed to put some distance between himself and Pedro and Jackson. He started in the semifinal vs. Fluminense and bagged a brace in a 2-0 victory, before scoring the third goal in Chelsea’s 3-0 victory against Paris Saint-Germain to proclaim their status as world champions. Jackson â€" who looks set to depart on a permanent transfer â€" was left out of Chelsea’s first preseason friendly vs. Bayer Leverkusen on Friday, whilst Delap started up top alongside Estevao, Cole Palmer and Tyrique George before being replaced by Pedro in the 64th minute. Whilst Delap failed to find the back of the net for the fourth straight match, Pedro managed to continue his stellar goal-scoring form in his first Chelsea appearance in front of the Stamford Bridge support. The game was still in the balance in the 90th minute when Pedro tracked down a low cross at the edge of the box before immediately pulling the trigger and firing a rocket into the bottom left corner.
Chelsea will get their season underway on August 17 with a home match vs. Crystal Palace before traveling to West Ham the following week, and they’ll be counting on Joao Pedro to step up and deliver the goods as they look to add more silverware to the trophy cabinet following a season that saw them win the UEFA Conference League and FIFA Club World Cup.