Mikel Arteta and Xabi Alonso
Mikel Arteta and Xabi Alonso (Photos: Getty Images)
Chelsea may have beaten Arsenal to the signing of Morgan Rogers this summer, but they arguably got a more important deal done in last year’s window.
That signing is Joao Pedro, who has proven an absolute bargain at a time when less successful transfers were being conducted for much higher prices.
After an impressive 25 goals in his first 56 games for Chelsea, Pedro looks worth every penny of the £60m they paid Brighton for him (fee via BBC Sport), and at the age of just 24 he can still get even better.
The Brazilian forward made an instant impact when he joined Chelsea last summer and helped them win the Club World Cup, and he’s showing no signs of slowing down with four goal contributions in his first two games of this season.
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Next up, he’ll face Arsenal in tomorrow’s big game at the Emirates Stadium, and it’ll be a chance for him to show the Gunners just the profile they’re missing up front.
Arsenal would be the complete package with Joao Pedro
Arsenal also signed a striker last summer, bringing in Viktor Gyokeres for slightly more money than Chelsea paid for Pedro, and getting a slightly lower goal return from their investment so far.
Despite a lot of excitement surrounding Gyokeres’ arrival after his remarkable scoring numbers at former club Sporting Lisbon, the Sweden international already seems to be behind Kai Havertz in the pecking order now that the German forward is at full fitness again.
Joao Pedro celebrates a goal for Chelsea against Brighton (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Still, there’s a strong case for saying Pedro is better than either of them, and would make a bigger difference to this Arsenal team than even an elite attacking midfielder like Rogers.
It’s pretty much an open secret at this point that Mikel Arteta’s side were ready to bring Rogers to north London this summer, but they already have a similar style of player in Eberechi Eze in that position, while summer signing Christos Tzolis has also made a big impression so far, despite not being the most high-profile name when he first joined.
Perhaps Havertz or Gyokeres will still come good for Arsenal, or perhaps they’ll end up splashing the cash on Julian Alvarez or someone similar in the near future, but they surely won’t find value like £60m for Pedro in this new inflated market.
Striker Games Goals Transfer fee
Joao Pedro 56 25 £60m
Alexander Isak 25 7 £125m
Hugo Ekitike 45 17 £82.4m
Viktor Gyokeres 56 21 £64m
Benjamin Sesko 34 12 £74m
In fairness, Arsenal aren’t alone there, as other clubs also spent big sums of money on inferior-looking strikers last summer, as the table above shows.
Chelsea’s transfer strategy has received a lot of criticism, and they’ve certainly over-paid for some underwhelming players, but Pedro is up there with Cole Palmer as surely the most astute purchase of the Clearlake era.