During his already impressive professional career, Joao Pedro has worn the shirts of Fluminense, Watford, Brighton, Chelsea and Brazil with pride, but he will never forget the first football kit he was given.

Our attacker grew up in Ribeirao Preto, a city in the northeastern region of the vast state of Sao Paulo. His dad, Chicao, was also a footballer, so it was natural that the first strip Joao Pedro received related to both the place of his upbringing and his family history.

‘My first shirt was a Botafogo shirt,’ Joao tells us. ‘They are the team from my city, Ribeirao Preto, where my father played. My mum gave it to me because I started to train at Botafogo when I was young.

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‘I wore it all the time. I was playing in the shorts and was very excited every day to train – I was dreaming of being a footballer.

‘It didn’t have a name on the back, just the badge because it's a big team in my city. It was special because my father played there, so the people from my city knew that. When I started to train there, it was a very special moment for my family.’

Later in his childhood, Joao Pedro moved to Rio de Janeiro to join Fluminense. They are, of course, the team he scored twice against in the Club World Cup semi-final last summer on his full Chelsea debut.

When we ask Joao Pedro what other football shirts spring to mind from his footballing journey so far, it is the famous red and green of Flu that shines the brightest.

‘I was playing at a tournament and Fluminense saw me,’ recalls Joao. ‘They invited me to do training tests. And then I remember that in three or four days, they approved me to be part of the team. So they gave me the training kit!

‘Wow, it was very special because it was my first kit given to me by a big club.’

Joao Pedro picks out our black third shirt as his favourite of the 2025/26 season. That is, perhaps, no surprise: it was the kit in which he scored his first Premier League goal for us – away to West Ham – and his super treble at Aston Villa later in the season.

His shirt from last summer’s Club World Cup final has pride of place in his home, and he says he has accrued a healthy number of opponents' kits from over the years.

Dressed in our new home shirt, Joao Pedro looks as sleek as ever. And his verdict on the new kit?

‘I think it looks more classic, more stylish with the collar,' he says. 'Like more old school, but also doesn't lose the modern look. I like it a lot.’