Joao Pedro is rivaling Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah – but Brighton’s Roberto De Zerbi hadn’t heard of him last summer

Roberto De Zerbi has admitted that he didn't know who Joao Pedro was before Brighton signed him last summer.

The Brazilian forward was signed from Watford for a fee of £30million last summer, with few expecting him to make the sort of impact that he has so far.

Scoring twice in the Seagulls' 4-2 victory over Stoke City in the FA Cup third round, the 22-year-old took his tally for the season so far to 15, equaling Glenn Murray's tally in the 2018/19 campaign and seeing him move closer to Michael Robinson's club-record best campaign tally of 22.

Not only that, but Pedro's tally has only been bettered by two Premier League players this term — Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah who have scored 19 and 18 respectively in all competitions.

Discussing his star forward's performances, De Zerbi said: “I love Joao Pedro and I know his potential. I know how he can improve and become important for us.

“I would like always something more because for us this level of performance is enough but I think he can reach a higher level and to reach that level he can play better, he can push more and more.

“I would like him to start the game in the beginning not in the second half or after 20 minutes and I will tell him my opinion.”

De Zerbi added: «The credit for Joao Pedro is to the club.

»The recruitment department told me the name of Joao, I didn’t know Joao before he came with us."

Pedro started his career with Fluminense before moving to Watford in January 2020 at the age of just 18.

Since then, the striker scored 24 goals in 109 appearances, including 11 in 35 for the Hornets last season in the Championship.

Already the Europa League's top goalscorer this term, time will tell how far Pedro can go with the Seagulls and if he can fulfill his