New Chelsea star must shake off this one negative stat in his first season with Blues | OneFootball

It’s the 20th day in July – time to check out how our number 20 is getting on this month.

Joao Pedro has only just walked into the door at Chelsea – he’s yet to set foot at Cobham, let alone Stamford Bridge – but he already feels like an integral part of the team and the project.

Joao Pedro makes massive, unique impact after signing

Joao Pedro celebrates his goal against PSG. (Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

It’s hard to remember a more instant impact than the one the former Brighton striker had. To be fair, few players have had the fairly unique opportunity of making their debut in a Club World Cup quarter final, but JP did it and never looked back.

After coming off the bench against Palmeiras and impressing, he started against his old team Fluminense in the semi finals and scored twice, then notched another in the final against PSG. Within a couple of weeks of signing his contract, he was lifting a trophy as a key player. It’s probably been the best month in his life, at least professionally.

Joao Pedro ready to show that lack of non-penalty goals was just a quirk

There’s plenty of talk about Nicolas Jackson being sold at the moment, and while we’re sure that’s on the cards at the right price, we suspect it’s more likely he sticks around and Enzo Maresca has 3 strikers to choose from this season.

For now, Joao Pedro looks more polished than either Jackson or Liam Delap, and should be number one choice come the start of the season. But having options should benefit all 3, and all will get plenty of chances to be the star this season.

The one knock on the Brazilian in his career so far has been a lack of prolific goal scoring at the top level. This is his chance to prove that all that was just a quirk of statistics.