Alan Shearer has contested Liam Rosenior’s glowing praise of Joao Pedro, insisting the Chelsea striker still has some solution to go before he will be in comparison with the likes of Harry Kane and Erling Haaland.
Pedro has shone across an immensely promising debut season at Stamford Bridge, racking up 18 goals and nine assists in all competitions for the Blues.
There had been some debate as to which striker would go on and grow to be the point of interest of Chelsea’s attack, with Liam Delap also arriving in west London for giant money last summer.
But Pedro appears to have put those inquiries to bed together with his excellent run of form since because the turn of the yr, netting 11 times in his last 12 matches for the Club World Cup holders.
The encouraging early signs point to a robust player-manager relationship between Pedro and Liam Rosenior and the latter waxed lyrical concerning the 24-year-old Brazil international when facing the media last week.
Speaking ahead of his side’s FA Cup fifth-round win over Wrexham, the Chelsea head coach even went so far as placing Pedro in the identical ‘category’ as world-class forwards Kylian Mbappe, Kane and Haaland.
‘Joao is in that category now. Within the two months I’ve been here, he has consistently shown he’s a world‑class striker,’ Rosenior told reporters.
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‘I discuss my players; it’s disrespectful to Erling to match them. I don’t know Erling thoroughly, but from the surface he looks a powerful, world‑class striker.
‘I wouldn’t swap Joao for anyone at this moment – he’s showing all of the qualities and attributes I would like to see.
‘The good thing for Joao is his age – he can still improve, and I’ve already noticed several areas where he can recover.
‘But the extent he’s operating at now could be world class, and it’s my job, the club’s job and his job to maintain him there.’
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Pedro backed up Rosenior’s praise by coming on and scoring deep into extra-time to assist Chelsea beat ten-man Wrexham to a spot within the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.
‘He’s a excellent player, he’s hit great ability. When he got here on, he was a level above everyone,’ ex-England and Newcastle striker said of Pedro’s eye-catching cameo performance on The Rest Is Football podcast.
‘He stood out a mile just together with his ability, balance, touch and technique, all of those things.’
But on Rosenior’s pre-match remarks likening Pedro to the world’s best possible strikers, Shearer added: ‘I wouldn’t have him that bracket, no.’
While Wrexham ultimately failed of their pursuit of a giant cup upset, Shearer made sure to applaud Phil Parkinson’s players for the spirit and resilience they showed throughout the fifth-round tie.
‘I assumed they were good. The energy they brought, they only fed off the gang,’ Shearer – the Premier League’s all-time top goalscorer – continued.
‘The whole lot they did, they weren’t afraid of anything. They only went at Chelsea, defended well, were creative in midfield, scored a few good goals.
‘It might have been more they usually pushed Chelsea all the best way. Chelsea didn’t play well in any respect, modified the team around, left just a few out, change of system they usually were barely fortunate to get through, I assumed.
‘But cup football, you’ve just got to get through to the following round and Chelsea did that.
‘However it was just an incredible occasion.’
Micah Richards, meanwhile, singled out Sam Smith for special praise, claiming the Wrexham forward outshone opposite number Liam Delap for giant parts of the tie.
‘How good was Sam Smith up front?! His hold-up play was amazing, he didn’t stop running, he took his finish well,’ the previous England and Manchester City defender said.
‘I used to be Liam Delap and I used to be pondering you couldn’t tell on the time who was the Premier League striker after which Delap did something special for the primary goal.
‘He held it up, put it wide and it was really good.
‘It was interesting to see because obviously Sam Smith plays within the Championship where he’s probably used to that constant battling and he just looked like that was something he had worked on and was used to.
‘Whereas Delap, he was not used to someone coming really tight to him and he didn’t quite know how you can figure it out, after which he got to grips with the sport and did rather well after that.
‘But before that, Delap found it very difficult.’
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