It’s been a long time coming, but Chelsea have spent big money on a striker, and they’re instantly reaping the rewards. Arsenal will hope for a similar impact when they eventually bite the bullet…
It looks like Chelsea have nailed it with £55million signing Joao Pedro, who decided the Blues’ Club World Cup semi-final against his former club, Fluminense, on Tuesday.
The ‘Blue Billion Pound Bottle Jobs’ have notoriously spent a fortune since Todd Boehly bought the club but have somehow always been lacking an elite striker. It’s confused their fans and tickled rivals, with Nicolas Jackson leading the line unconvincingly for the past two years.
Christopher Nkunku should’ve been a lot more successful than he has been at Stamford Bridge, but even still, he’s not exactly an out-and-out centre-forward. The same could be said for Pedro, though we’re confident he’s closer to one than the Frenchman — who, incidentally, is available for transfer in the summer.
The signing of Liam Delap for £30million was a no-brainer. With Chelsea back in the Champions League after a two-season hiatus, they need depth all over the pitch. There were more question marks over the £55m fee for Pedro — a player banished from Brighton’s squad for their final two Premier League games of 2024/25 after serving a three-match ban for a straight red against Brentford.
Newcastle United were keen, with Eddie Howe eager to provide better cover for Alexander Isak. And as someone capable of playing on either wing or as a No.10, Pedro was the preferred candidate.
Ultimately, Pedro to Chelsea for £55m feels like the perfect deal for the player, Chelsea, and Brighton — just not for Newcastle.
The Brazil attacker made his Blues debut off the bench against Palmeiras in the Club World Cup quarter-finals, and made his full debut on Tuesday in the New Jersey sunshine — this time facing another Brazilian side and his former employers, Fluminense, who had ex-Chelsea captain Thiago Silva in the middle of a back three.
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Not celebrating against your former club winds the best of us up — often unnecessary and occasionally ridiculous. But we get it here. Pedro scored twice and was subdued both times against the club which gave him the pathway to become a £55m footballer.
His first goal was a thing of beauty. Chelsea’s press overwhelmed their opponents and when the ball eventually fell to Pedro 25 yards out, you just knew it was flying in the moment it left his right foot.
Fabio, 44 years young, never stood a chance, and he was even more helpless when Pedro made it 2-0 in the 56th minute.
He held his run perfectly, received the ball a good 35 yards from goal and ran confidently, cutting inside and absolutely walloping it in off the bar. It was emphatic and, like the first goal, got me thinking: ‘Is anyone else in this Chelsea team even capable of scoring a goal like that?’ Probably for the second, but probably not for the first.
His contribution alone puts Chelsea into the final of the Club World Cup, a tournament we’re still pretty surprised they were invited to, having finished fourth, sixth and twelfth in the last three Premier League seasons. That’s not the point, we know why, and frankly, we don’t actually care. They absolutely deserved the win on Tuesday night and now have a chance to be…’world champions‘.
They’ll lap that up — and so they should — as the club that recently became the first to win the three major European competitions, and now the first to win the revamped Club World Cup, and technically both versions of it.
They took their sweet time to spend big on an actual centre-forward, ignoring Victor Osimhen’s availability for over a year, and opting for a Premier League-proven star to complete Enzo Maresca’s puzzle.
Finally solving their striker problem might put them in Premier League title contention next season, and they have the chance to do the funniest thing ever and win the league before Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, who have been rebuilding for over five years and have finished second three seasons in a row. Chelsea’s rebuild has looked absolutely shambolic from day one, but they’ve found themselves in a position where they could pip Manchester City, Liverpool, and Arsenal.
They’ve done so by biting the bullet for a big-money striker, and that’s something the Gunners are preparing to do as well.
Viktor Gyokeres looks nailed on to move to north London, and Arteta will hope he makes a similar instant impact to Pedro.
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