Joao Pedro made his Chelsea debut against Palmeiras on Friday night and revealed what Enzo Maresca said to him before he came on.
Chelsea advanced to the semi final of the Club World Cup with a hard fought 2-1 win against Brazilian side Palmerias.
Cole Palmer gave the Blues the lead, before future Chelsea star Estevao Willian equalised, but Malo Gusto’s deflected striker seven minutes from time turned out to be the winner.
Joao Pedro on Chelsea debut
Chelsea only announced the signing of Pedro earlier this week having agreed a deal with Brighton worth up to £60m for the Brazilian.
Pedro was handed his debut as a second half substitute despite being on holiday and only having a couple of training sessions with his new team-mates.
The 23-year-old put in an impressive performance and provided an insight into what Chelsea fans can expect from him going forward.
It was impressive given how little time Pedro has had and he revealed after the game what Maresca’s message was to him.
“The manager told me to play free, do my best and I think I did,” he told Chelsea’s website.
“It’s important we got through to the next round.”
Mohammed Kudus a target
Despite making three attacking signings already this summer the Blues haven’t ruled out signing another attacker, with Mohammed Kudus a name of interest.
Maresca refused to be drawn on links to Kudus after the Palmeiras game, with the Ghana international also attracting interest from Tottenham.
West Ham are thought to be open to offers of around £60m, and have reportedly already turned down an offer which included players from Chelsea.
Chelsea were interested in Kudus back in 2023 when he was still at Ajax, and that interest has clearly remained, so it will be interesting to see what the Blues decide to do.
Adding attacker is a good idea