Ray Parlour has highlighted Brighton and Hove Albion’s ‘unbelievable recruitment’ as the Premier League high-flyers close in on a deal for Newcastle United target Joao Pedro.
Add the respective transfer fees of Moises Caicedo, Kaoru Mitoma, Pascal Gross, Evan Ferguson, Julio Enciso, Joel Veltman, Tariq Lamptey, Yves Bissouma and Leandro Trossard together, and you would still get change out of £60 million.
Joao Pedro, then, represents something of a change of tack.
Brighton, talkSPORT say, are set to invest a club-record sum in the region of £30 million in the Watford forward. But Arsenal legend Ray Parlour would not be surprised to see Pedro come to represent excellent value for money too. Even at a fee well in excess of the sums Brighton paid to bring Mitoma and Caicedo to The Amex Stadium.
Brighton will beat Newcastle United to Watford striker Joao Pedro
“I think Newcastle bid £30 million (for Joao Pedro). So it is going to be big money,” Parlour explains (28 April, 10am).
“Watford will get paid handsomely. Brighton’s recruitment is unbelievable.”
Newcastle, according to Sky Sports, saw a big-money offer of their own rejected by Watford in August 2022. Pedro may have committed his future to the Hornets for another 12 months but those at Vicarage Road must have known, deep down, that failure to secure promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt would pave the way for Pedro’s inevitable departure.
With just two Championship matchdays remaining, Chris Wilder’s Watford are 13th in the table. A dismal campaign scuppering their hopes of retaining a player who has 11 goals and four assists. An impressive season, at least, from an individual perspective.
“Look for me, Joao Pedro is a craque,” former Watford boss Claudio Ranieri said. “He is young and he has to improve a lot. But he is also one of the best young players in the Premier League, for me.
“He has to improve a lot (but) he has very good skills.”
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