Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion have broken their club transfer fee record by securing Joao Pedro for £30m from Watford, find out his brief bio and position
Joao Pedro is a former Brazilian wonderkid who joined Watford in 2020 with a lot of promise.
Who is Joao Pedro Brighton record signing, bio, age, height, parents, position, salary, contract details, transfer fee, stats
João Pedro deal is done since yesterday, not now. It will be official soon, contract being signed with Brighton prepared to unveil their new star. 🔵🇧🇷 #BHAFC
Fee will be close to £30m — personal terms agreed.
No doubts as revealed here yesterday night.
Here we go confirmed. pic.twitter.com/Kc9uOfNjK5
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) April 28, 2023
João Pedro has already fitted in like a treat at Brighton 🇧🇷🌟 #BHAFC pic.twitter.com/N5Ex7ldtCK
— Charlie Haffenden (@JournoHaff) July 23, 2023
Joao Pedro scored 11 goals in the Championship last season and had a relatively successful season despite his club’s lackluster 14th place finish.
Brighton signs Joao Pedro as part of their highly successful transfer policy
Brighton arguable have one of the best transfer policy structures across all major top flight football leagues in the world. The club has managed time and again to acquire young and exciting prospects with tons of untapped potential for the minimum transfer fees. This strategy has allowed them to grow from lower-league strugglers to a top Premier League side competing in Europe.
And this strategy largely owes its success to the data-driven approach used by head of recruitment Sam Jewell, and his predecessor Dan Ashworth. The pair have collectively brought in a fortune of over £200 million across the last few seasons. This figure will further rise up once Moises Caicedo’s big-money sale concludes. The Seagulls have been very tight on their spending that their recent acquisition of Brazilian prodigy, João Pedro, for £30 million was enough to break their club transfer fee record.
Joao Pedro brief bio
Joao Pedro, full name Joao Pedro Junqueira Jesus, is a Brazilian professional footballer who was born on 26 September 2001. He was born in Ribeirao Preto, São Paulo, Brazil, to parents Flavia (mother) and Chicão (father). His father was an ex-professional footballer who played for Flamengo and Botafogo in the Brazilian Serie A.
Joao had a tough childhood growing up because of his father’s criminal conviction. His father was convicted and imprisoned for eight years after he was found guilty of being an accessory to murder. Despite this troubled upbringing, his love for football combined with his hard work and talents helped him find success in the sport.
Age and height
Joao is currently 21 years old and stands at a height of 1.82 m.
Joao Pedro career
Joao Pedro started out his career at Botafogo and eventually caught the eye of Fluminese scouts. He ended up joining Fluminese’s youth program and joined the first team aged just 17. He eventually joined Watford in 2020, at the age of 18. During his three seasons with the struggling club, Pedro scored 24 goals, and played consistently. Despite his young age, Pedro has already played under 12 managers at the club level. Although he hasn’t had an international call up, Pedro still looks forward to it confidently, and it could come very soon with his new move to Brighton.
Joao Pedro salary
Prior to joining Brighton, Joao Pedro signed a new 5-year contract extension back in September 2022 with Watford. Although the details of that deal are not available, he was already earning £25,000 a week even before that deal. Now that he has arrived at Brighton on a five-year club record fee of £30 million from Watford, he will most probably be one of the club’s highest earners joining the list of players like Adam Lallana, Lewis Dunk, and Pascal Gross. Aside from these specualtions, there is no official report regarding his new salary.
Pedro playing style and abilities
Joao Pedro is a prime example of the traditional Brazilian stereotype of authentic flair, and creative, unrestrained expression. The 21-year-old showcases extreme levels of versatility especially in the forward areas. As such, he can excel as a solo player or also as a systems player. This will enable him to fit right into Brighton head coach Roberto De Zerbi’s possession-based, high-intensity, and highly-organised structure.
Pedro possesses the key poacher’s instinct quality required for every top-quality striker in the upper tiers of the game. He managed to score 33 across 139 games during his time at Watford. While these numbers may not be mindblowing, it is certainly impressive considering all the other factors. The fact that Pedro scored those goals despite being part of a Watford side in the midst of an off-field crisis and facing a relegation dogfight, while also suffering an ankle injury is truly impressive.
Future at Brighton
Now that Pedro will get to play in a progressive, forward-thinking environment at Brighton, all sorts of potentials will likely get untapped. Moreover, he is arriving at the South Coast having received recommendations from players like Richarlison who stated:
Joao Pedro has a big future. The kid is talented. If he stays focused, he can go far.”
As such, the young talent will be sure to find success in his future at his new club, Brighton.
Joao Pedro career stats
Last season, the Brazilian centre-forward played 31 matches and scored 11 goals. Moreover, he picked up an impressive ten ‘MOTM performances’ during the 2022-23 campaign. Despite Watford finishing the campaign at an underwhelming 14th place, Pedro had an impressive season. In fact, his performances could have taken his team even higher up the table if he wasn’t held back by his season-ending ankle injury.