Chelsea's dramatic Pedro heist that has left rivals
Manchester United red-faced was masterminded
by manager Jose Mourinho, director Marina
Granovskaia, Cesc Fabregas and the midfielder’s
girlfriend Daniella Semaan.
Pedro is poised to complete a £22million move to
Chelsea
after flying to London on Wednesday to complete a
medical, just two days after United executive vice-
chairman Ed Woodward had travelled to Barcelona
to try to close a deal for the forward.
• Chelsea confirm signing of Pedro from Barcelona
• The transfers United missed out on under Ed
Woodward
But while Woodward was haggling with Barcelona,
Chelsea were putting ‘Operation Pedro’ into
practice with Granovskaia conducting discreet
negotiations with the Spanish club and, with the
permission of Barca, Mourinho and Fabregas both
speaking with the forward directly.
With Mourinho and Fabregas working on Pedro,
Semaan made contact with the Spaniard’s wife,
Carolina Martin, about moving to London.
Cesc Fabregas's girlfriend Daniella Semaan has
played a key role
Fabregas is good friends with Pedro from their
time together at Barcelona and the Spanish
national team, while Semaan also knows Martin
well.
Between them, Mourinho, Granovskaia, Fabregas
and Semaan managed to clinch a deal with Barca
and convince Pedro to forget about United and
agree to move to Stamford Bridge.
• Six reasons Chelsea were so desperate for Pedro
By the time Woodward and United denied there had
been problems over the fee and claimed that the
club had ended their interest in Pedro because of
doubts from manager Louis van Gaal, the 28-year-
old was already on a flight to London to undergo
his Blues medical.
Spanish sources also claim that United’s bid ran
into trouble because of Van Gaal’s fall-out with
Pedro’s former Barca team-mate Victor Valdes,
who has been frozen out at Old Trafford.
Hristo Stoichkov urged Pedro not to joined United
and play for his former Barca manager Van Gaal,
claiming the Dutchman was “mediocre” and
somebody who “destroys clubs”.
Mourinho is likely to have got a far better
recommendation, as, intriguingly, Stoichkov visited
Chelsea’s Cobham training ground last week and
spoke at length with the Portuguese and Fabregas.
The hijacking of Pedro has echoes of Chelsea’s
late move to sign Willian from under the noses of
Tottenham Hotspur two years ago in what was a
significant blow to then manager Andre Villas-
Boas.
Mourinho’s main motivation in signing Pedro is
clearly to improve his team and squad, but he will
take great delight in putting one over United off the
pitch after Chelsea’s slow start to the season on it.
The Pedro transfer has been an ongoing saga this
summer
United insist they are already pursuing new
targets, but the failure to capture Pedro after the
departure of Angel di Maria piles the pressure on
Woodward who has previously failed to close deals
for Fabregas, Thiago Alcantra and Gareth Bale, and
was this summer led up the garden path by Sergio
Ramos, who signed a new contract at Real Madrid.
Manchester City had also made enquiries over
Pedro in case a bid for Kevin de Bruyne falls
through, but the Eastlands club remain hopeful of
clinching a deal for the former Chelsea midfielder
before the transfer window shuts.
Mourinho had hinted that he was frustrated by
Chelsea’s lack of transfer activity, but owner
Roman Abramovich has responded to the City
defeat by committing to spend up to £44m on
Pedro and left-back Baba Rahman, while also
having a £30m bid for central defender John
Stones rejected.
Chelsea could yet land Stones for almost £40m
before the transfer window shuts, but, even if
Everton stand firm, there can be no doubt that
Mourinho has been backed.
Chelsea could yet land John Stones for almost
£40m
While there was an obvious space in which to
bring in Rahman to replace Filipe Luis, Chelsea
have signed Pedro without finding a definite buyer
for either Juan Cuadrado or Victor Moses.
Juventus are interested in Cuadrado, who will be
allowed to leave either permanently or on loan,
while Moses is on Tottenham’s list of targets but
is not currently a priority for the White Hart Lane
club.
Ironically, Mourinho could have signed Pedro in
January but instead went for Cuadrado, who has
not made any sort of impact at Chelsea since his
£23.3m arrival from Fiorentina.
Creating serious competition on the right side of
attack has been a problem for Mourinho, with
Andre Schurrle, Mohamed Salah and Cuadrado all
falling out of favour.
Juan Cuadrado has been a flop
There is confidence that somebody with the
experience of Pedro, who has won every honour in
the domestic and international game, will cope far
better with the competition for places at Stamford
Bridge.
Pedro is likely to start on the right, with Willian and
Oscar competing for the central position behind
striker Diego Costa, and Eden Hazard staying on
the left.
The Spain international’s pace should provide a
new creative element to Chelsea’s game, while
Pedro’s goalscoring record is also good for
somebody who operates off the flank.
Pedro has twice scored more than 20 goals in all
competitions for Barca, while he also netted 19
times in 2013/14.
Chelsea are waiting to see whether or not Stones
agitates to leave Everton before making a fourth
bid. The Toffees continue to insist the 21-year-old
is not for sale.
The arrival of Pedro will certainly lift the mood
around Chelsea, following a tough week in which
Mourinho was forced to answer questions over his
demotion of club doctor Eva Carneiro and physio
Jon Fearn and the team were beaten by City.
Carneiro was this week due to return to Cobham,
but Chelsea are refusing to comment on the matter
and she has not been seen by the club’s first-
team players.




http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/chelsea/11812584/Revealed-How-Chelsea-pulled-off-dramatic-hijack-of-Barcelonas-Pedro-and-left-Manchester-United-red-faced.html

oya a beg 2 FP.

wot a signing.......

wot a signing.......Chelsea b dey spoil market for man utd no b today