Your back aches. You have sat on a hardwood surface for too long. You started and scored in a Champions League final, yet you even can’t get scrub minutes from the new coach. You try to politely remind him you started and scored in a Champions League final, but you are ignored. You scream that “you are a starter”, but people look at you like you are crazy.
You are Pedro Rodriguez. And this year, somebody finally listened. You are reborn.
I wrote about Pedro a few years ago for my own site. I pinned him as the soccer equivalent of Steve Kerr at the Chicago Bulls: a reasonably skilled player who stood wide, made wide open buckets, and coasted to glory on the back of a genuine all-star in Michael Jordan. Barca fans, rain or shine, always complained: why doesn’t Pedro get more minutes? Starting him in games was the “go to” panacea for any and all cule problems.
Yet he never became that lock starter in Catalonia. Instead, Barcelona bought Neymar and suddenly Pedro found himself even further down the pecking order. Thus, he opted to switch to England and play for Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea. This, of course, struck many as an odd move. Going from the tiki-taka attacking vigor of Pep’s Barca to the dire defend-with-numbers Mourinhoball was like drinking oil instead of water.
Pedro started strongly enough, but Chelsea imploded under Mourinho and were laughably close to the relegation spots by Christmas. Guus Hiddink righted the ship, but nobody last Spring, aside from Antonio Conte, would have predicted big things for Pedro.
Yet today Chelsea sit atop the Premier League, Costa and Hazard are banging in goals, and Mr. Rodriguez is a lock to start most games.