20 goals, no World Cup, and Barcelona knocking: Joao Pedro's Chelsea season deserves more

Carlo Ancelotti chose his words carefully when he named Brazil's World Cup squad this week and left Joao Pedro out of it.

“Believe me, I am sad for João Pedro,” he told reporters. “With the season he is having, he probably deserved to go to the World Cup. However, with all possible respect and with so much competition, we chose other players ahead of him.”

Pedro's response, posted on social media, was like Ancelotti's. “I tried to give my best at all times. Unfortunately, it wasn't possible to fulfil this dream. But I remain calm and focused. Joys and frustrations are part of football."

Twenty goals, nine assists, 49 games, and still not enough for a place in the squad heading to North America. It is a tough thing to absorb for a player who has been one of the best strikers in the Premier League this season. The fact that it is happening at Chelsea, a club that hasn't qualified for European football next season and is heading into its third managerial change in 18 months, makes it harder still.

The Joao Pedro who joined Chelsea from Brighton last July for £60 million was a fair bargain. He had been brilliant at Brighton, scoring 22 Premier League goals over two seasons and earning a move to one of the biggest clubs in England, but the question of whether he could carry a struggling side, rather than supplement a functional one, was still open. This season answered it. Chelsea have finished with six consecutive Premier League defeats, missed European football entirely, sacked Liam Rosenior in March and are now preparing for Xabi Alonso to take over.

They have been a mess around him. He has been their most consistent player by a distance, the first Chelsea striker to score 20 goals in a single season since Cole Palmer in 2023-24, and doing it against a backdrop of managerial instability, dressing room issues and a club that has spent three years and over a billion pounds building something that still doesn't work.

Pedro grew up in Ribeirão Preto in São Paulo state, came through the academy at Fluminense and made his senior debut there at 16. Watford paid around £4 million to sign him in January 2020, then loaned him back to Fluminense for six months before bringing him to England.

He found Championship football difficult at first but grew into it, scoring 11 goals in his second full season at Vicarage Road and catching Brighton's eye in the process. Roberto De Zerbi made him a starter in 2023-24, gave him the tactical framework to express his movement in behind and his ability to hold up play, and Pedro responded with 14 goals in the Premier League alone.

That campaign made Chelsea pay £60 million for him. That campaign is also why Deco has been travelling to London this month trying to take him to Barcelona, as revealed by Barca Blaugranes.

The Barca talks has been coming up since April. Simon Phillips, who is closely sourced on Chelsea matters, first reported on April 2 that Barcelona had identified Pedro as a serious target, an alternative to Julian Alvarez after Atletico Madrid made clear that the Argentine would cost in excess of €120 million.

Deco travelled to London and held talks. By May 6, Pedro had reportedly spoken with Raphinha, his Brazil international teammate, about life under Hansi Flick at the Camp Nou. The numbers in Barcelona's favour are obvious: Champions League football next season, Lamine Yamal and Raphinha as teammates, and a club that could offer Pedro the stage that Chelsea cannot provide in 2026-27.

He has a contract at Stamford Bridge until 2033, and Xabi Alonso reportedly wants to assess the full squad before making any decisions on sales. Until Alonso says he wants Pedro gone, it does not look like Pedro is going anywhere.

Former Chelsea winger, Shaun Wright-Phillips, in a recent interview, made a point.

“Personally, given the way Chelsea has been run, if I were him, I would do everything to complete this transfer,” he said. “Playing at Camp Nou, alongside Raphinha and Yamal, would be great for him. He would score many goals, since we have already seen what he did in a team that wasn't as good as this Chelsea side. If I were Joao Pedro, I would want to play in the Champions League, and I cannot see Chelsea qualifying for any European competition.”

Pedro is 24, at the peak of what he can become, and the club he signed a long-term deal with last summer is offering him the Europa Conference League at best next season, if they can string enough wins together to even reach that. The pitch from Barcelona doesn't need to be elaborate.

And yet Pedro himself has said nothing to suggest he wants to leave. In a week when he's dealing with World Cup rejection and transfer speculation at the same time, his public statements have been calm, professional and entirely focused on the present. That is either the sign of a player who is genuinely content at Chelsea and is prepared to wait for the club to rebuild around him, or the sign of a player who has learned to say nothing before negotiations start. Either reading makes sense. What we're not sure of is the idea that Barcelona's interest will disappear over the summer.

Ancelotti apologised to him publicly. His numbers justify the apology. Whatever happens this summer, whether he ends up at Camp Nou or prepares for his second season at Stamford Bridge under Alonso's management, Joao Pedro has already done something that Chelsea fans will not forget too quickly.