'Hopefully we can beat him' - Brighton star looking forward to reunion with Chelsea's 'amazing' £60m forward
Ferdi Kadıoğlu has heaped praise on a former teammate who will be facing Brighton for the first time since his £60m move to Chelsea.
Brazil forward Joao Pedro has registered five goals and three assists in nine outings for Enzo Maresca’s Blues this season.
The 24-year-old will be hoping to add to his tally against his former employers – for whom he scored 30 times in 70 appearances.
Speaking after the 2-2 draw against Tottenham last weekend, Kadıoğlu said he was looking forward to facing his old teammate.
“João, I think he started amazing [at Chelsea],” the Turkish international said.
"It will be nice to see him again.
“Hopefully we can beat him. I wished him good luck but after that I didn't speak with him.”
Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler said he is confident his side can neutralise the ‘special’ Joao Pedro at Stamford Bridge.
Three other former Albion stars will start the game for Chelsea: Moises Caicedo, Marc Cucurella and Rob Sanchez.
Kadıoğlu, 25, will have a tough task on his hands to keep a formidable Chelsea attack quiet with the lively Pedro Neto and Estêvão occupying the wings.
But the Brighton man will have learned a lot from his battles with Spurs’ Mohammed Kudus and Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo.
Those two tests were certainly a baptism of fire for Kadıoğlu – who missed nearly a year of football due to a toe joint capsular tear. The former Fenerbahce man – who joined Albion for £25m last summer – had surgery and a lengthy rehabilitation period followed.
Assessing his performances against Kudus and Semenyo, Kadıoğlu said: “They are both amazing players, very strong, fast.
“They tried to search a one-against-one. They are both left-footed, so that made it maybe a little bit easier but still, they are unpredictable.
“Sometimes they go outside, then inside. You have to be really sharp. At the end, I was maybe a little bit tired.”
On his injury – and why it took so long to return to action – Kadıoğlu said: “I had an injury in my big toe, a rupture. At first, we tried to let it heal without surgery, but it didn't heal properly.
"Later we had to do a surgery, so that took some time away. After the surgery, I was struggling to come back.
“I had a lot of pain for a long time, so it took a little bit longer than expected. Before the pre-season, I did almost everything with the team.
“I'm very glad to be back in the first 11 and hopefully [there will be] many more this season.”