His mother, Flavia Junqueira, says the one lesson she instilled in him was to keep fighting for what he wants. Looking at Joao Pedro’s journey, that resolve has been essential.
Raised mostly by his mother and grandmother, Joao Pedro saw little of his father, former Botafogo player Jose Joao de Jesus (known as Chicao), who reportedly spent about eight years in prison as an accessory to murder. Junqueira later separated from him and poured her energy into nurturing her son’s talent. “Joao had a dream,” she recalled, adding that she shared it fully and would spare no effort to pursue it.
Growing up in Ribeirao Preto, roughly nine hours by road from Sao Paulo, Joao Pedro drew interest from several top Brazilian clubs and ultimately joined Fluminense, considered the best place for his development. Like his father, he started out as a defensive midfielder before moving further up the pitch.
The choice brought sacrifices. Junqueira left her job, family and friends to move to Rio, while her son struggled with homesickness, often in tears. At the academy he was told he lacked the strength to make it, which hit him hard. Despite tightening finances, his mother hired a personal trainer to help close the gap. At first he followed the nutrition and training plan mostly because she insisted. Over time, he embraced it.
“He was very thin and physically behind his age group,” said longtime trainer Rodrigo Goncalves. “He never stopped showing up—sometimes reluctantly, pushed by his mother—but he came. As he matured, he understood training wasn’t just a requirement; it was the key to improving performance, building his body and finding the balance football demands.”
He blossomed into one of Fluminense’s standout prospects and caught the eye of Watford scout Rafa Monfort. A call from Richarlison, who had taken the same path, also helped sway him. A Premier League devotee since childhood, Joao Pedro was eager to move to Watford, though it took about eight months to meet the Governing Body Endorsement rules and secure a UK work permit. Junqueira believes a spectacular overhead kick he scored for Fluminense against Cruzeiro in May 2019, at 17, helped prove he was an exceptional talent.
When they arrived in England in December 2019, Junqueira discovered her bank cards wouldn’t work. Then-Watford goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes stepped in, welcomed the family and even bought their Christmas dinner. A few months later, the pandemic brought lockdowns, which Joao Pedro used to double down on physical work with Goncalves, adding roughly eight kilograms of muscle and preparing himself for the demands of the Premier League.
From then on, he was no longer the homesick kid in tears, but a fully fledged top-flight footballer ready to meet each new challenge.