Joao Pedro deserves place on PFA Young Player of Year shortlist

“Why has Joao Pedro been included in the PFA Young Player of the Year shortlist? That has got to be a mistake.”

The reaction from much of the football world to Joao Pedro being being one of six nominees for PFA Young Player of the Year 2023-24 ranged from bemusement to anger.

When you look at the other nominations, Pedro is an outlier. Every other player represents clubs you would put amongst the European elite.

Bukayo Saka of Arsenal. Cole Palmer of Chelsea. Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho of Manchester United. And Michael Olise is now a Bayern Munich player after the German giants signed him for £50 million earlier in the summer.

Pedro though deserves his place on the shortlist alongside such big names (and Olise). He enjoyed a spectacular first season with Brighton having become the club’s record buy when costing £30 million from Watford in May 2023.

At the time, that fee seemed monstrous for a forward who had only scored 11 goals in the Championship in 2022-23. But the Albion’s data and algorithms rarely get things wrong when it comes to recruitment.

Pedro proved himself every part a £30 million signing. Which is why he deserves to be considered amongst the six best players aged 21 and under at the start of last season.

Firstly, there were the goals. Pedro became the first Brighton player to score 20 in a top flight season since Michael Robinson back in the 1980s.

Nine of his haul came in the Premier League. Five from only two FA Cup outings. And most impressive of all, six in six games as the Albion made their Europa League debut.

Pedro thrived playing European football. He was the competition’s leading scorer after the group stage. Take away his last minute penalty equaliser in Marseille and the winner away against AEK Athens and the Albion’s Europa League campaign would have looked very different.

There would almost certainly have been no round of 16 tie with Roma to look forward to. Pedro’s importance was made clear with his absence through injury keenly felt as Brighton made a somewhat limp exit from Europe at the hands of the Italian side.

Exactly half of Pedro’s goal total came from the spot. His calmness and ability to more often than not send the goalkeeper the opposite way eradicated the normal sense of trepidation Brighton fans feel whenever the Albion are awarded a penalty.

More often than not, it would be Pedro himself winning the spot kick in the first place. Against AEK at the Amex, he won and then converted two penalties inside an hour.

Those who try and use 50 percent of Pedro’s goals being penalties to detract from his numbers are often blissfully unaware that Pedro is also the man earning the opportunity to score.

He has lit up the Amex with the silky skills you expect from any Brazilian forward. A personal favourite part of Pedro’s game though is his underrated aerial ability.

Several times in 2023-24 we saw Pedro score powerful headers which the best target men in English football history would be proud of.

Good in the air. Technically excellent on the ball. And with an eye for the spectacular, as we saw with his stunning strike to open the scoring as Brighton beat Villarreal 4-0 in their final pre-season friendly before the 2024-25 campaign begins.

Okay, so that moment does not count towards the 2023-24 PFA Young Player of the Year award. But it serves as evidence that Pedro is a special player.

So too are the other contenders. Palmer is rightly the favourite to take home the prize. He scored 22 times and assisted 11 to have the most goal involvements of any player in the Premier League last season.

Saka is the defending champion having won the award in 2022-23. His 16 goals and nine assists helped Arsenal to second place, taking the title race with Manchester City down to the final day.

Mainoo emerged from nowhere to become a full England international. He scored the second goal for United as they defeated City 2-1 in the FA Cup final. Garnacho got the first that day at Wembley, one of 10 goals he netted from the wing in all competitions.

Olise meanwhile scored 10 and assisted six from only 19 appearances. He was a major reason why Palace claimed a top 10 finish, so it is obviously very sad to see him leave Selhurst Park for the Allianz Arena.

A FootballFanCast article from April underlines what a surprise Pedro’s inclusion is. It listed 10 players who could win PFA Young Player of the Year 2023-24 with no mention at all of Joao Pedro. Or Olise.

Joining Palmer, Saka, Mainoo and Garnacho were Harvey Elliott, Destiny Udogie, Jarrad Braithwaite, Conor Bradley, Rasmus Hojlund and Lewis Miley.

Liverpool, Spurs, Everton and Newcastle fans have been particularly vocal in questioning Pedro being on the shortlist, obviously feeling upset their respective players have missed out to someone from #TeamsLikeBrighton.

The biggest rebuke to those questioning Pedro’s place on the shortlist, however, surely comes from who chooses the candidates.

This is not a public vote hijacked by Brighton fans. Nor is it selected by pundits with Albion-bias, if any of those even exist.

PFA Young Player of the Year is selected by members of the PFA Union. Enough of Pedro’s fellow professionals voted for him so that he made the top six.

Nobody can disagree with that, can they?