With great promise on his shoulders, Pedrinho was hired by Benfica under the tutelage of Jorge Jesus. During his time with the Portuguese team, the boy from Alagoas had little to no game time and was available to be negotiated, following the approval of the coach himself. Shakhtar Donetsk’s team decided to bet on the young Brazilian, who was involved in a reported deal worth up to 18m.
For the Ukrainian team, Pedrinho has so far played three official matches, two of them as a starter. In his second match (30/08), for the Premier League against the PFK Lviv team, the player showed a lot of personality in dribbling and individual plays.
In the second half, Pedrinho dominated a rebound inside the area, where he capped the score and fired through the goalkeeper’s corner to seal the victory by 3-0.
In his last match (3/08), Pedrinho started as a starter in the dispute with KRC Genk from Belgium for the Qualifying phase of the Champions League. The match started better for the Belgian club, who scored 1-0 in the first half of the game. In the second stage of the match, Pedrinho was more connected on the field and soon after 63 minutes of the match, he was knocked down inside the opposing area, conceding the penalty which was converted by fellow Brazilian Tetê. The goal of the Ukrainian comeback came from the feet of another Brazilian, Alan Patrick, in the 81st minute. The score line remained at 2-1 until the end of the game, guaranteeing an advantage for Shakhtar in the return game.
The athlete’s controversial manager, Will Dantas, blames Pedrinho’s lack of success at Benfica on Jorge Jesus, making it clear that there were signs of the coach’s unwillingness to use the Brazilian athlete. The businessman even says that Jorge Jesus will regret this decision in the future. The fact is that the beginning of the former Corinthians player at Shakhtar is encouraging and could be the incentive that the player needed to start to emerge in Europe.
Will Dantas went on to say that Jorge Jesus should never had made ‘degrading’ comments about Pedrinho, while making a controversial claim that the veteran manager has never been an icon anywhere. In one particular game, Pedrinho was famously brought on only 20 seconds from the end of the game, something that didn’t sit too well with Dantas.
Moving forward, the choice of the athlete and the manager by the Shakhtar team was an intelligent decision, as, traditionally, the Ukrainian team is a great shelter and environment for Brazilian players to appreciate. In the match against KRC Genk, for example, 10 Brazilian-born players entered the match.
Pedrinho will face the challenge of achieving prominence in a less visible league. For this, the player fights for space in the team, looking for more opportunities in the Champions League, which is the most visible championship in the world. In a team where he will get ample game-time to show his worth, it’s safe to say Pedrinho could be set for a fruitful campaign this term.
