Joao Pedro: From Award Winner to Elite Company

Xabi Alonso did not flinch. Asked if Joao Pedro belongs in the same conversation as Erling Haaland, the Chelsea manager simply replied: yes.

For a 24-year-old who has only just collected his first Premier League Player of the Month award, it was a statement that cut through the usual caution. Alonso went further, too. In Joao Pedro he sees echoes of one of the finest forwards he ever played with: Karim Benzema.

From award winner to elite company

Joao Pedro’s start to the season has been electric. Two goals, two assists in his first three league games. Enough to earn August’s Player of the Month prize, edging out team-mate Cole Palmer, who held the award back in September 2024.

It is the first time Joao Pedro has claimed the honour. It almost certainly will not be the last if he keeps this pace.

Asked directly whether the Brazilian can be compared to Haaland, last season’s Golden Boot winner with 27 league goals, Alonso did not try to downplay the hype.

“I would say yes,” he said. “If you count how many top strikers we have in the Premier League, I’m sure that Joao is there, Haaland for sure is there. So I would rate him that way.”

Those are heavy names to sit alongside. The numbers, though, back up the conviction.

Numbers that demand attention

Since arriving at Stamford Bridge last summer, Joao Pedro has rewritten Chelsea’s recent history at centre-forward. In his debut campaign he became the club’s first striker since Diego Costa to hit 20 goals in a single season.

Across 57 matches for Chelsea, he now has 25 goals and 11 assists. That is 36 direct goal contributions in under a season and a half of football.

Haaland, in his last 57 games for Manchester City, has 42 goals and nine assists. The Norwegian remains the benchmark for pure penalty-box devastation, a specialist goalscorer who lives on the last shoulder.

Joao Pedro is different. Not less, Alonso argues. Just built another way.

The Benzema comparison

Where Haaland is a finisher, Joao Pedro is a connector as well as a scorer. He has operated as a midfielder, a number 10, a winger and a nine. He can drop off, drift wide, link play and still arrive to finish.

That versatility is exactly what reminded Alonso of his old Real Madrid team-mate Benzema, with whom he shared 195 games.

“In many things he reminds me of Benzema, because he is good in the box, he is good out of the box, he is good coming to his left side, he is good with the head, he is very complete, he is intelligent,” the Spaniard said.

“So yes, he is still young, still things to develop, but many, many absolutely outstanding qualities that he has.”

Coming from a man who watched Benzema evolve from Cristiano Ronaldo’s foil into a Ballon d’Or winner, the comparison carries weight. Benzema, now 38 and a free agent, has 523 goals in 994 appearances for France, Lyon, Real Madrid and Saudi Arabian sides Al-Ittihad and Al-Hilal. That is the level Alonso is invoking.

Chelsea’s new number nine

Chelsea have already nailed their colours to the mast. Last month Joao Pedro signed a new deal that runs until 2034. The club handed him the number nine shirt at the start of this season – a number that has weighed heavily on several of his predecessors.

So far, he has worn it with ease.

The Brazilian’s impact has gone beyond goals and assists. Alonso has repeatedly highlighted his maturity and presence in the dressing room, traits not always associated with young forwards thrust into the spotlight at a club of Chelsea’s scale.

“He has been outstanding. Not just in football terms, but in his personality, his maturity and his desire,” Alonso said. “He has a very clear goal this season, which is to have a great campaign and score a lot of goals.”

Brazil pain, new fire

The summer brought a jolt. Joao Pedro was a surprise omission from Brazil’s squad for the World Cup, a decision taken by national team coach Carlo Ancelotti – the same man who once managed Alonso at Real Madrid.

For a striker in form, being left at home hurt.

“It was painful for him, but that is in the past,” Alonso admitted. He rejected the idea that the snub was the key driver behind Joao Pedro’s surge. “He had enough motivation. He already had enough within him, so I didn’t need to go there. We are now focused on what he is doing well and what he can do better.”

Brazil have already taken notice. Joao Pedro has been recalled for September’s international fixtures against New Zealand and India, a swift correction that underlines how quickly his status has shifted.

Chelsea, meanwhile, are building around him. A long contract, the iconic shirt, a manager publicly placing him in the company of Haaland and likening him to Benzema. The expectations are enormous.

The question now is not whether Joao Pedro belongs in that conversation. It is how far, and how fast, he can push it.