Pedro Will Be Missed.

Pedro is no longer a Barça player. The player that no one expected to amount to much leaves Barça as a legend.

The player from the Canary Islands that exceeded everyone’s expectations. Not many were aware of Pedro back in the summer of 2008. Pep Guardiola was in charge of the first team and had called up Barça B players to be part of the summer preseason and although Busquets turned out to be the revelation from La Masia, Pedro was not that far behind. Guardiola promoted Pedro the following season and his career took off.

Pedro’s career is what dreams are made of. When Pedro was on the first team, he had the likes of Henry, Bojan, and Ibrahimovic all fighting to play up front with Messi during the 2009-2010 season. Yet, just a year later, it was #17 who was starting up front with Messi and David Villa and scored the opening goal for Barça in their 3-1 victory over Manchester United at the new Wembley stadium.

Pedro’s first three years with Barça were magical for the player and the club. During his first season, 2009-2010, he became the first player to ever score in all six club competitions in one year. Only Messi was able to reach that feat two years later. Pedro was clutch in most big games and he was also one of the least selfish players when he stepped on the pitch. He always put the team first such as his pass to Neymar during the Champions League Final against Juventus. He could have tried to score but opted to do what was the best for the team, and pass it to Neymar instead who did score. That’s the sort of player that he was. During that period, his performances for the Blaugrana earned him a call up to the Spanish national team. Although he did not play a huge part in the team’s success, he was a member of the Spanish national team that won both the World Cup and European Cup. His rise from nowhere to the top was all but complete.

I will always remember Pedro for his relentless work ethic on the pitch. Pedro was not just about goals. Far from it! He provided many assists to his teammates and also played his heart out on both sides of the pitch. He was always a machine out there by never letting up on both sides of the pitch. He was the first guy to chase after the other team’s goal keeper if he had the ball, and was usually one of the few forwards to track back to help out on defense. His work ethic was second to none and hopefully Munir and Sandro can at least bring that sort of effort on the pitch for Barça this season.

Even though he was not the superstar caliber player such as Messi, Henry, David Villa, Neymar and Luis Suarez, Pedro still shined along with those players. Unfortunately, his good run started to slow down in 2012. Injuries and too many games saw Pedro lose a bit of his scoring touch and minutes become harder to come by when the club signed Alexis, then Neymar before signing Suarez. It’s hard to shine when you cannot play as much and his departure was in pursuit of more minutes in hopes of getting another call up by Spain for Euro 2016. Barça’s loss is Chelsea’s gain. Chelsea are getting a very good player; just not a very good scorer. However, he is a very hard worker which is the type of player that Mourinho likes and hopefully, one the fans there will appreciate. It is somewhat fitting that the guy that not many expected to shine leaves Barça just one goal shy from 100. He is the sort of player that stats cannot justify or tell the complete story of just how important he was to the team. In the end, Pedro is a Barça legend in my book. Thanks for everything, Pedro.