Edwards always thought Seagulls' red-hot striker Joao Pedro would be a Premier League star

Town boss Rob Edwards never had any doubt that Brighton & Hove Albion’s red-hot striker Joao Pedro would become a force to be reckoned with in the Premier League this season.

The Luton chief had a brief stint working with the Brazilian forward during his four month spell in charge of Hatters’ fiercest rivals Watford last term, the attacker playing nine times and scoring two goals, before Edwards found himself out of a job in September. Moving to the south coast for a £30m fee in the summer, Pedro got his Seagulls career up and running with a goal against Luton on his debut back in August, but then only netted five times in his next 17 outings.

Scoring a double at Nottingham Forest in late November kickstarted the former Fluminense youngster into life though, going on to find the net 11 times in his last 13 matches, including braces against Spurs and Stoke City, with a first senior hat-trick during the 5-2 FA Cup triumph over Sheffield United on Saturday. It means with 18 goals to his name, he is now the joint second highest scoring Premier League striker in all competitions this season, level with Liverpool’s Mo Salah, the pair only one behind Manchester City’s Erling Haaland.

It has come as no surprise to Edwards though, who said: “I was lucky enough to work with him for a short period of time. He was a real talent, yes, no doubt about it, he’s got a really high ceiling. I thought he was a brilliant decision maker, I did. I just saw a top, top player that I was really lucky to be working with. I thought he was excellent, thought he made brilliant decisions, his attitude was outstanding as well.

“He’s a really good player, a really talented lad, a really good lad, a nice person as well is Joao, but he’s going to continue to get better, no doubt about that. He’s at an amazing age, at a brilliant club working with a top manager (Roberto De Zerbi) as well now, you can see it all coming together nicely. I know they're going to keep demanding and keep pushing more. I keep seeing the headlines, the manager saying he’s going to get better, he can get more from him and hopefully he does, but after tomorrow.”

Pedro’s ability to pull the trigger had been questioned in the past by some of his previous managers, scoring 11 goals in 35 matches last season, but that was never an issue Edwards thought he had, adding: “If you’re going to score, you’ve got to shoot haven’t you. I think we challenged him to score goals and be a goal threat, goals and assists were the big challenge we wanted from him.

"He got a few, but we weren’t there that long. He’s certainly always had it in him to score and be a real threat, but I think like a lot of young players, they learn and work it out. Intelligent players and the best ones, learn and work it out and go and put it into action. He’s doing that now, you can see it. It’s hard to find too many faults with him for when we were working with him, I thought he passed it when he needed to, shot when he needed to, worked really, really hard.

"Brighton are so good at creating chances, he’s going to be in the right place to score. A number of penalties as well, they're in that area of the pitch so often, they get a lot of penalties. He’s ruthless and deadly with his pens as well isn’t he, he’s having a great season.”