Chelsea asked ‘why the hell’ they sold seven-goal striker as Joao Pedro injury confirmed

Ciaran McCarthy

28 Oct 2026 2:14 PM

Chelsea have been told they sold the ideal Joao Pedro replacement in Nicolas Jackson

Xabi Alonso has confirmed the general length of the injury suffered by Joao Pedro, as Chelsea have been asked “why the hell” they sold his perfect replacement.

Blues striker Pedro started the season in red-hot form. After six Premier League games, the Chelsea No.9 has five goals and three assists to his name.

But he has missed two games through injury, including the latest – a 2-0 loss to Tottenham – and will be sidelined for weeks.

Chelsea have been told by former Premier League scout Bryan King they were wrong to sell Nicolas Jackson in the summer.

The now-Aston Villa striker has seven goals in all competitions for his new club this season, and King feels he was the perfect Pedro replacement.

He told Football Insider: “He’s a big miss, the boy up front for Chelsea [Pedro]. You think, why the hell have they got rid of Jackson? You can’t play [Morgan] Rogers up front.

“Rogers is a player who’s coming on to stuff. He’s not somebody who’s going to lead the line.

“So, it makes a strange decision to let a centre-forward go when apparently now we see that they’ve only got one centre-forward.

“Okay, you bring in the centre-forward you brought in, but why sell the boy Jackson? He was your replacement for Pedro.

“Was it the fact that they only play with one up [front]? I’m surprised they couldn’t play with the two of them, with Pedro and Jackson.

“Rogers isn’t a centre-forward. He’s not a player who wants to play with his back to goal. He’s a player who likes to come on to stuff.”

Chelsea do have Danny Welbeck in their squad, having signed him in the summer, and he has three goals to his name this season, all in the League Cup.

But when the Blues were without Pedro against Tottenham, they played Rogers through the middle, and only introduced Welbeck in the 88th minute, by which point the game was done.

Joao Pedro injury confirmed

Chelsea boss Alonso has confirmed that Pedro is going to be missing for the next few weeks.

He said: “Yes, he has an injury on his thigh and he is going to be out for a few weeks.

“Let’s see how many, we don’t want to predict on that.

“He is a key player. We will miss him, but we will have to be ready to deal with the injury and to be competitive and to try to win games with the players that we have available.

“We are starting tomorrow against Liverpool, a cup game. This is the situation. We are ready to fight for it and ready to prove that we can show the level.”

Chelsea Joao Pedro