{"id":52621,"date":"2025-09-19T05:10:28","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T09:10:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/sport\/joao-pedro-interview-chelsea-forward-on-his-position-roberto-de-zerbi-and-becoming-the-all-round-frontman-enzo-maresca-needed-football-news\/19\/09\/2025\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T05:10:36","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T09:10:36","slug":"joao-pedro-interview-chelsea-forward-on-his-position-roberto-de-zerbi-and-becoming-the-all-round-frontman-enzo-maresca-needed-football-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/sport\/joao-pedro-interview-chelsea-forward-on-his-position-roberto-de-zerbi-and-becoming-the-all-round-frontman-enzo-maresca-needed-football-news\/19\/09\/2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Joao Pedro interview: Chelsea forward on his position, Roberto De Zerbi and becoming the all-round frontman Enzo Maresca needed | Football News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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From Ribeirao Preto in Sao Paulo to the south west of London, Joao Pedro’s journey has been full of a wide array of unique experiences. But now he has been handed the keys to the kingdom at Stamford Bridge, he is leaving no stone unturned.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old cut short his summer holidays to join Chelsea in the middle of the FIFA Club World Cup campaign. He would end up becoming a vital piece of the jigsaw as the Blues went all the way to win the competition.<\/p>\n

Since then he has started the Premier League campaign in fine fettle. Two goals and three assists in four starts makes him the club’s top contributor. And while some may have thought having less recovery time in the off-season would have hampered him, the Brazilian has done everything to ensure that would not be the case.<\/p>\n

“I try to work with the guys in the physio [department] here a lot to be able to give 100 per cent to every game,” he tells Sky Sports<\/em>, before revealing he has also been doing extra work away from the training ground with a private physio to try and stay sharp.<\/p>\n

“In the days when we train in the morning, always in the afternoon I try to do something to recover faster. Or, if I feel a little bit of pain in one area, in order to be fit as soon as possible to be ready for the next game.”<\/p>\n

The pressure on the forward to maintain his fitness has only grown in recent weeks with the departure of Nicolas Jackson to Bayern Munich and Liam Delap’s hamstring injury that is set to keep the Englishman out until December. Something the former Brighton man is all too aware of.<\/p>\n

“I need to try to be fit because now I think I’m going to play more and more games, get more minutes, but the club helped me a lot to be able to be on the pitch for every match,” he says.<\/p>\n

Part of what makes Pedro so valuable to Blues boss Enzo Maresca is his versatility. Chelsea fans have already seen him take up positions all across the front four, evidenced by his heat map for the Premier League season thus far.<\/p>\n

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\n Pedro’s versatility has proved vital for Chelsea’s attack
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Incredibly, he started off as a defensive midfielder at Fluminense, but after his goalscoring touch was discovered he was moved further up the pitch. He does, though, credit this as to why he has been able to be so efficient in different areas.<\/p>\n

“I played as a midfielder when I was in the academy but I was number 10, so one day the coach asked me if I could do this position [defensive midfield] and I started to train there sometimes,” he explains.<\/p>\n

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\n When you play in the middle you need to check over your shoulders more and be more technical so I think this has helped me a lot. I could learn in the academy when I was younger and now I can use it in the game.<\/span><\/p>\n