Hurrah! Watford’s new signing João Pedro is finally leaving his home country and flying to England tonight.
Globo Esporte managed to speak to the Brazilian wonderkid before that, and although they made a special story for TV, some of his quotes are already available in a shorter piece on their website.
Most of the questions were about the 18-year-old’s farewell from Fluminense. It turns out he got quite emotional in the interview, since it’s the club who made him a professional player.
“I spent almost half of my life at the club. Farewell is always worse. I know everyone there. Everything I’ve been through… But that’s football. I told myself not to cry there, but I cried. But let’s go,” João Pedro told Globo Esporte.
“I got anxious by being sold because I was in U17 and the normal thing would be to go to U20. And then I didn’t know if I could play pro, which I really wanted. I wanted to repay what the club did for me. It was a dream of mine to play at Fluminense. I didn’t want to go without playing pro. And thank God I was able to play, I had a sequence, I managed to score goals, some that will be in the memory of the fans, such as the bicycle kick and the three in Sul Americana.”
Fluminense had a tough year in 2019, fighting against relegation. And João Pedro has claimed he did his best to help the club at a difficult time.
“I had ankle tendonitis and spent a lot of time playing with an injection and everything. But it didn’t matter to me. I just wanted to be on the pitch helping Fluminense, because it was a difficult time. But that the fans don’t know. That there are a lot of players who struggle, who play in pain.”
Watford will want to make sure their new signing is completely recovered from any injury issues.
