Brighton news: Opinion – ‘Fans will want more consistency’ from Pedro

Earlier this week, BBC Sport asked its fan writers to detail a player who really needs to step up to the plate as the season closes out. As you’ll see a little further down this page, Brighton fan Scott picked Joao Pedro, stating disciplinary issues need to be controlled and that “there have been games this season that have bypassed him”.

My take is his manager has a trust in him.

He is a really good player and I think a lot of us forget how young he is -relatively speaking – because we have seen him play in England for a good few years now.

Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler has Pedro, Georginio Rutter and Danny Welbeck at his disposal but it is Pedro that can link the other two in the best way.

I get that fans will want more consistency from him and there are certainly things that he can refine in his game, but ultimately Hurzeler trusts him.

To be a Brazil international is a huge credit to him, but what does that actually mean? I can think of a couple Brazilian forwards who have also been historically criticised for their output based on views of what they are expected to be like.

Pedro has an edge to him. Whether he goes down too easily or simulates, I am not sure because in reality, it is all about how a referee perceives things and what the outcome is.

He is on eight goals so far this season, so if he scores a couple more before the end of the season then he could have his most successful season in English football in terms of stats. I think he is on track to do that.

Brighton are also strong contenders to win the FA Cup and qualify for Europe again. He will be one of the reasons they achieve one of those, if not both, if he continues to be a driving force in attack and taking it to the opposition.

As we saw with Newcastle recently, for a lot of fans these are once in a lifetime situations and they shouldn’t be taken for granted.

You want to see success and good attacking talent because that brings excitement for the future. That is what I think Pedro can represent.

Nedum Onuoha was speaking to BBC Sport’s Katie Stafford