Chelsea aren’t exactly short of riches in the forward department, but Joao Pedro may have just given himself a head start over his new attacking colleagues before Sunday’s Club World Cup final.

The Brazilian, who joined Chelsea from Brighton last week, is one of 19 forwards to have signed for the Blues under their American owners, who have now spent £600m on attacking players since assuming control of the club in 2022.

After making his debut in the Club World Cup quarter-final win over Palmeiras on Saturday, the frontman was handed his first start in the last-four tie against Fluminense – his boyhood side – and announced his arrival with two stunning strikes either side of half-time.

With 18 minutes gone, the Brazilian collected a half-cleared cross on the corner of the penalty area, took one touch to steady himself and arrowed a stunning drive past 44-year-old goalkeeper Fabio and into the far corner to open the scoring.

His second was just as aesthetically pleasing as he ran onto Enzo Fernandez’s throughball from near the halfway line, darted into the box and slammed a right-footed shot into the net via the crossbar 11 minutes into the second half.

With Chelsea set to receive £21.9m for reaching the final – where they will play either Real Madrid or Paris St-Germain – Joao Pedro’s goalscoring exploits on Tuesday mean he has already repaid over a third of his transfer fee.

“It was a dream,” he told DAZN afterwards. “I don’t think it could have gone any better.

“I’m happy to have scored my first goals. [The Club World Cup] would be my first title as well. I only came here a week ago, and now I’m going to play the final.”

Have Chelsea finally found the answer to their centre-forward woes?