Brazilian 23-year-old João Pedro could provide a major boost to Watford this summer, despite having left the club at the end of the 2022/23 season. He joined Brighton in May 2023 and has performed well for the Seagulls. But now it looks as though he’s ready to move to pastures new, and the good news is that the Hornets will get a decent chunk of any transfer fee if he does.
Although the Watford board have often been criticised for rash or often downright bizarre decisions over the years, we have to give them sizeable credit in this case. The reason: when they sold Pedro, they negotiated a sell-on clause as part of the deal, and a healthy one at that. According to sources including the Watford Observer, the sell-on clause in question is worth a very tidy 20% of any profit Brighton make from selling him. And with Brighton’s asking price appearing to be in the region of £60-70 million for the Brazilian, Watford could be in line for a cash boost of up to £6 million, if the stars align. This is based on what Brighton might sell Pedro for minus the reported fee of £30-35 million Brighton paid Watford in 2023.
Will Pedro Leave Brighton This Summer?
There have been several reports since the end of the season of other Premier League clubs seeking to buy Pedro, including Newcastle United and Chelsea. Indeed, Newcastle attempted to buy him back in 2022, but it didn’t come off. The Magpies won’t regret it, though, as they signed Alexander Isak instead, and he’s been a massive hit.
But now Eddie Howe is attempting once again to get his hands on Pedro, and it sounds as though the player is keen on the move (based on suggestions in the media, which might well have been placed by the player’s agent). Whether the move materialises might well depend on negotiations between the two clubs, and the player himself, but the signs are positive. And if he does move, it will be a welcome boost for the Watford coffers as they attempt to buy some much-needed firepower of their own ahead of next season’s hoped-for promotion push.
How Good Was Pedro at Watford… and How Good Could He Become?
The best of João Pedro.
— Watford Football Club (@WatfordFC) May 5, 2023
João Pedro came through the youth system at Brazilian club Fluminense, and Watford scouts clearly heard good things about him because they somehow reached an agreement to sign the youngster before he’d even played a senior game for the South American club. After gaining a UK work permit in October 2019, he joined the Hornets in January 2020.
In total, Pedro made 109 appearances for Watford between 2019/20 and 2022/23, scoring 24 goals. His best season, on the scoring front, was his last at the club as his 11 league goals in 35 games made him Watford’s top scorer. An 11th-place finish in the Championship was not enough to encourage the talented youngster to stay, however, and he joined Brighton to play in the top flight. For Watford, Pedro often made important contributions, and though he wasn’t a true match-winner as often as fans would like, he showed some fantastic glimpses of the talent he possessed and the player he might well still become in the future.
In his first season at Brighton, he scored nine goals in 31 Premier League games, but he was particularly effective in the cup competitions. He ended up as the joint-third top scorer in the Europa League after scoring six goals in as many games (with only Romelu Lukaku and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scoring more in the tournament that season).
He didn’t do too badly in the campaign just gone, scoring 10 goals in 27 Premier League appearances. Okay, it’s hardly Mo Salah standards, but it helped Brighton finish eighth in the table with some important goals along the way, including an injury-time winner against Manchester United.
As for how good he might become, a lot may depend on his attitude. There were a couple of incidents last season that put a question mark over his character. For instance, he was banned for three games for violent conduct after lashing out at Brentford’s Nathan Collins, and he was dropped from Brighton’s squad prior to their late-season game against Tottenham after an “incident” on the training ground.
At the time, Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler told reporters, “With Joao we had a small issue in training, a type which isn’t uncommon from time to time in all football clubs. We dealt with it internally and the matter is closed.” He went on, “Joao is an incredible football player. He is a match winner for us. That’s why we invested in him. But there are principles, there are values… they are non-negotiable. Joao is still a young player, and (there’s) still a lot of potential that he will grow. I’m sure he’ll learn from this and come back stronger next season.”
Whether he will be stronger next season remains to be seen, but Watford fans will be hoping that, either way, he’ll be playing for a different club, ideally one that has spent a lot of cash buying him.
How Should Watford Spend the Cash… If They Get it?
Okay, £6 million can’t buy a whole lot in the world of football, but it could at least be put towards acquiring a player who might have seemed just a little too pricey otherwise. The obvious place to invest any extra cash would be to get hold of a decent goalscorer. No player scored 10 or more goals last season, and only three managed to notch more than five. If the owners are serious about pushing for promotion, it’s a no-brainer that they need to buy players – or at the very least one player – who can consistently get into double figures.
Of course, intention and realisation are two very different things, but if Pedro moves to Newcastle or elsewhere, at least Watford will have just a little more in the transfer kitty than they otherwise would have.
