Michael Owen has said Manchester United should have looked to sign Joao Pedro before the forward joined Chelsea in a £60million move 12 months ago. The 24-year-old enjoyed an impressive debut season at Stamford Bridge, finishing with 20 goals in all competitions despite Chelsea’s difficult campaign.
Owen’s praise for Pedro
Speaking on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast, Owen said: ‘I’m a huge Joao Pedro fan, I think he’s unbelievable. In fact, Manchester United should have bought him about four years ago when he was at Watford.’
Pedro quickly became Chelsea’s first-choice centre-forward ahead of fellow summer signing Liam Delap. He was left out of Brazil’s World Cup squad and will aim to make an impact under new manager Xabi Alonso, starting against Fulham in a week’s time.
Chelsea’s season outlook
After finishing tenth last term, Chelsea have no European football this season, allowing Alonso to focus on domestic competition. Owen believes this could be a major advantage, predicting Chelsea will finish second behind Arsenal.
‘Chelsea. This could be way off the mark but they’ve got no Europe at all and you see how important that has been over the years,’ Owen said. ‘This manager did something similar with an unfancied team in Germany, he’s going to change a lot, they’ve bought well.’
Transfer interest in Pedro
Reports from Brazil claimed Arsenal made a surprise approach for Pedro, offering €100m (£86m), but Chelsea rejected the move. Pedro, described as one of Chelsea’s ‘untouchables’, has also attracted interest from Barcelona and has seven years remaining on his contract.
Owen acknowledged ‘question marks’ over goalkeeper Robert Sanchez but said Chelsea could ‘catch fire’ and have a ‘big season’ under Alonso.
