Why Joao Pedro is Dream Team flavour of the month as new season draws near

The Sun

28-07-2025

DREAM TEAM managers have a hard time keeping track of Chelsea's transfer activity these days.
Predicting the Blues' fortunes amid a carousel of imports and exports is far from easy but it would be foolish to disregard them entirely as there are plenty of points to be had at Stamford Bridge.
Our latest SCOUT REPORT focuses on Joao Pedro (£4.5m), the recent subject of a £60million transfer from Brighton to west London, a well-trodden path in recent years.
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The Gameweek 1 deadline is still a way off yet but the Brazilian forward is a very popular man among gaffers already experimenting with various teams.
An ownership of 41.5% makes him the third-most popular player at present!
One reason for this is his Club World Cup heroics.
Enzo Maresca's side were triumphant in New Jersey and Pedro played a decisive role upon his arrival with a brace against Fluminense in the semis and a goal against PSG in the final.
Consequently, he has been instantly embraced by Chelsea fans and it seems his Dream Team stock is higher than ever ahead of the new campaign.
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The 23-year-old has enjoyed spells of popularity in previous seasons, most notably in 2023/24 when he feasted in the additional competitions.
Pedro scored 20 goals for the Seagulls that campaign, with 11 of them coming from just seven outings across the FA Cup and Europa League.
During this fruitful period, he became one of the most successful forwards in Dream Team, provoking a tsunami of transfers.
2024/25 was less profitable but he hit double figures in the Premier League and many Dream Team bosses recruited him early on after he scored against Manchester United and Arsenal in August.
In short, Pedro has been a player of interest for a while and the possibility of him getting plenty of minutes for one of the top flight's stronger teams is an intriguing prospect.
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That being said, predicting game time is not all that easy where Chelsea are concerned.
Pedro predominantly plays as a centre-forward but he is not an old-fashioned No9 who stays on the shoulder of the last defender.
Liam Delap and Nicolas Jackson are more traditional strikers in this sense, though the latter is linked with a move away this summer.
More cautious gaffers may opt for patience and delay their assessment of Pedro's viability until his role at Chelsea has been established but the Club World Cup suggests he will get the nod in Gameweek 1.
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One other aspect to monitor is the penalty pecking order.
Pedro is statistically one of the best spot-kick takers in Europe having missed just one of 19 in his professional career.
However, Palmer boasts the exact same record.
One assumes the England international will continue as first-choice penalty taker but it will be interesting to see what happens if he misses one or two with Pedro on hand.
Needless to say, prolific penalty takers are very popular in Dream Team.
Palmer is one of just two players to feature in more teams than Pedro at the time of writing.