Chelsea’s Joao Pedro Says Teammate Would Fit Brazil’s System Perfectly

On the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, Joao Pedro commented that at the beginning, when he first arrived at Chelsea, he greatly underestimated the quality of Cole Palmer, but when he saw him play for the first time at Stamford Bridge, he was amazed by the magic that the Englishman has, assuring that said magic would be capable of leading the Brazil national team.

"He is very intelligent. He is magical. I told him before: 'I didn’t think you were that good.' He looked at me, so I said: 'Now that I play with him, it’s different. Why don’t you come to Brazil? There you would be the No. 10; no problem.' In Brazil, we don’t have anyone like that: we play with a 4-2-4, and we lack that type of player."

Surprisingly, both players were left out of their respective national teams for the World Cup. In Joao Pedro’s case, it is quite surprising since he was Chelsea’s top scorer this season, chosen as the Blues’ player of the season, and has more goals than all the forwards called up by the green and yellow.

Ancelotti could only apologize to the player, saying the following: "Honestly, I feel very sorry for the players who are not on the roster... like... Joao Pedro. He probably deserved to be on this list for the season he had in Europe, but sadly... we chose other players."

In Cole Palmer’s case, it is a bit more understandable, however, not entirely, because although the player did not have his best season in London, his quality remains, and in a tournament like the World Cup, he can give you flashes of that quality and contribute to the group.

The German coach, Thomas Tuchel, said the following: "Cole was not as decisive as in previous seasons... he competes in the right inside forward position where we chose Jude Bellingham, Morgan Rogers, and Eberechi Eze, who are exceptional players and had a better season."

It is a shame that two players with so much quality and youth were left out of their country’s rosters; however, this can fill them with ambition so that during the coming seasons, we see better versions of them, all with the intention of earning their places for the 2030 World Cup.

That would be the best for both their clubs and their national team, because it has been seen before, Chelsea’s best period last season was when Palmer was on fire, and the club’s best period during this season was when Joao Pedro scored every matchday, it’s no coincidence.