Pedro: Why the Barca man should be a good
match for Chelsea
By Andy West
Spanish football writer
19 Aug
Pedro was the first man to score in six
competitions in a calendar year - a feat he
achieved in 2009
Chelsea have beaten Manchester United to
the signing of Pedro - with the London club
paying a fee of £21m for the 28-year-old.
The Premier League champions' fans should
now be excited about the prospect of
watching a player who should be perfectly
suited to the rough and tumble of life in the
English top flight.
Wholehearted and humble
Pedro will quickly make himself popular with
Chelsea supporters because the Spain
international is the kind of whole-hearted,
tenacious and passionate performer who
English fans, in particular, love to love.
He will also be warmly welcomed within the
Stamford Bridge dressing room, with his
new team-mates recognising that he is a
selfless, hard-working and generous player
who puts the needs of the team above his
own ego.
During his time at Barcelona, that simply had
to be the case because Pedro has always
played second fiddle - or perhaps even third
or fourth fiddle - behind a glamorous bunch
including luminaries such as Thierry Henry,
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, David Villa, Neymar, Luis
Suarez and, above all, Lionel Messi.
Messi & Pedro
Since 2009-10, only Messi (317) has been
involved in more league goals for
Barcelona than Pedro (93 - 58 goals, 35
assists)
Pedro has been directly involved in more
goals with Messi than anyone else in the
past five years (28)
Only Luis Suarez assisted as many of
Messi's 43 goals in La Liga last season as
Pedro, despite the Spaniard's limited
game-time
Four of Pedro's six league assists last
season were for Messi
Many players have struggled with the
requirement of stifling their own game to
service the needs of the megastars, with
Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez providing a
perfect example of someone who has
flourished since being able to step out of
Messi's shadow.
But Pedro never had that problem because
his modest and humble nature allowed him
to easily accept the reality that his main job
was to give the ball to or create space for
Messi - if anything, he was sometimes guilty
of being too selfless and looking for Messi
when going alone might have been the
better option.
Now, though, the move to Chelsea offers this
eminently likeable player an opportunity to
take on more responsibility and prove just
how good he can be in his own right.
5 live's Football Daily podcast - Pedro to
Chelsea reaction and debate
Goals, speed and versatility
In addition to his admirable attitude, Pedro
also possesses a number of attributes -
starting with his happy knack of scoring
vital goals at vital times.
Indeed, his first, second and last goals for
Barca were all responsible for winning a
trophy: in the Spanish Super Cup against
Athletic Bilbao in 2009, the Uefa Super Cup
against Shakhtar Donetsk two weeks later,
and another Uefa Super Cup strike against
Sevilla earlier this month.
Pedro's debut season as a regular in the
Barca team, 2009-10, also saw him earn the
distinction of becoming the first ever player
to score in six different competitions in the
same season: La Liga, the Spanish Cup, the
Champions League, the Spanish Super Cup,
the Uefa Super Cup and the Fifa Club World
Cup.
And Manchester United fans, as well as
being disappointed by their club's failure to
land a player who had appeared to be
destined for Old Trafford, will also wince at
the memory of Pedro scoring the opening
goal in Barca's 2011 Champions League final
victory over United at Wembley.
But Pedro is primarily a goal provider rather
than a goalscorer and his major asset is his
blistering pace, which he uses to great
effect to beat full-backs down either flank
before arrowing dangerous low crosses
into the penalty area - something Diego
Costa, in particular, will enjoy.
He is also perfectly suited to the counter-
attacking style often preferred by Blues boss
Jose Mourinho away from home. There are
few players in the world better than Pedro
in 'transition', turning defence into attack in
the blink of an eye by running with the ball
at lightning pace.
Pedro's time at Barcelona has allowed him
to greatly improve his game intelligence. He
is now a perceptive and tactically astute
player with clever movement off the ball and
Eden Hazard, for example, will appreciate the
way Pedro creates shooting positions for
his colleagues by dragging opposing
defenders out of position.
And although he is primarily an attacking
player, Pedro's team-first mentality and
impressive levels of fitness ensure he can
always be relied upon to carry out his
defensive duties with utter diligence.
Where will he play?
An intriguing question for Mourinho, who
surely will already have very clear ideas on
the matter, is how his new signing will fit
into the team.
Pedro is chiefly known as a right winger,
logically making Willian the most vulnerable
member of the Blues' regular starting XI.
But the fact that Pedro is a rare example of a
two-footed performer allows him to appear
on the left flank with equal comfort,
although his appearances in that position
have been severely limited in the last couple
of years at Barcelona since the arrival of
Neymar.
However, Pedro is also capable of playing as
a central striker and has filled that role on a
number of recent occasions for the Spanish
national team.
Centre forward has become a problem
position for 'La Roja' ever since Fernando
Torres entered into decline, and Pedro's
work ethic and selflessness have made him
a firm favourite with national coach Vicente
Del Bosque.
Considering Costa's fragile hamstrings and
Radamel Falcao's unconvincing form in the
Premier League, it is quite feasible that
Pedro will receive a significant amount of
playing time through the middle for his new
club.
Technical limitations
For all Pedro's mental and physical qualities,
the reason he has failed to become an
indispensable member of Barca's starting XI
is that he is technically somewhat limited.
We are talking in relative terms here, of
course - being technically inferior to players
like Messi, Neymar and Andres Iniesta is
hardly a matter of shame.
Pedro in La Liga
Games
played:
204 Debut: v Real Murcia in January
2008
Goals: 58 Minutes per goal: 210.9
Assists:
35 Chances created: 180
Win %:
75.98 Trophies: 5 La Ligas; 3 Copa
Del Reys; 3 Champions
Leagues; 3 Super Cups; 2 Club
World Cups
But Pedro's range of passing can let him
down - you certainly won't see him pinging
50-yard Steven Gerrard-style missiles from
one flank to the other, and even routine
passes can also sometimes go astray.
His touch can also be on the heavy side, with
a collective groan of exasperation a familiar
sound around the Nou Camp as Pedro took
his eye off the ball and saw it run out of play
for a goal-kick or throw-in.
And if you want to really find fault, another
slight weakness is his occasional reversion
into 'head down' mode, relying on his
greatest natural asset - his pace - to charge
goalwards without giving particular
consideration to where his teammates
happen to be positioned.
That was perhaps his natural tendency as a
young player but it has been coached out of
him at Barca and, as stated above, he now
generally reminds himself to stop, think and
remember that everyone else is a bit slower
than he is.
Bad news for Barca
Pedro's departure is certainly bad news for
Barcelona, who are losing a key squad
player on the eve of a new season - and
with their transfer ban from Fifa still
ongoing, they don't even have the
opportunity to immediately replace him.
The description 'squad player', however,
explains why Pedro has decided to quit the
Nou Camp, because it has become
increasingly apparent in the last few months
that he could only hope to be named in
Barca's starting XI if other players were
injured or rested.
That was never previously the case.
Although other stars always claimed a
greater share of the limelight, Pedro could
always fairly regard himself as having at
least a chance of getting into the team's
'Gala XI' - as demonstrated by his selection
for the 2011 Champions League final
against United.
That changed with the arrival of Luis Suarez,
with Barca moving away from their former
reliance upon midfield dominance and
basing the structure of the team around the
outrageous excellence of their front three.
Messi, Suarez and Neymar scored a scarcely
believable combined total of 122 goals last
season, and their consistent brilliance has
left Pedro lagging well down the pecking
order, relegating him to true substitute
status for the first time.
Although Pedro's unwillingness to play the
back-up role is understandable, his
departure will greatly disappoint Barca boss
Luis Enrique, who appreciated the
opportunity to rest one of his star trio safe
in the knowledge that Pedro would always
do an excellent job for the team.
Now, unproven youngsters Sandro and
Munir El-Haddadi are the only real attacking
options, leaving Barca even more reliant
upon 'MSN' avoiding injury or loss of form.
After everything he has achieved at the Nou
Camp, Pedro will miss Barca - but they will
miss him, too.