Given the manner with which the move was pulled off, it’s debatable whether Chelsea actually wanted Pedro Rodriguez in the first place. When Jose Mourinho drew up his transfer targets for the summer, was the Spanish winger even mentioned? His may have been a shrewd signing, but it’s reasonable to deduce that Pedro wasn’t a player Mourinho really wanted.
That’s not to say the former Barcelona winger isn’t perfectly suited to Chelsea. In fact, he is the quintessential Mourinho kind of player—speedy, hard-working, adaptable and undoubtedly loyal. But his arrival at Stamford Bridge never appeared likely until the day before it happened.