In modern-day football, it isn't so rare to see footballers having their own signature celebration, often to pay homage to family or people close to them or to showcase their off-field personality on the pitch.
Chelsea, as a club, aren't strangers to players trademarking certain celebrations, with Cole Palmer trademarking his "cold" celebration, but now, striker Joao Pedro recently trademarked his signature goal celebration, revealing the news on a LinkedIn post,
The Blues' number nine celebrates by covering his face with the palm of his hand like a mask, with his middle and ring finger crossed and pulls a ‘thumbs down’ pose with the other. This has been a familiar sight for Chelsea fans this season, with the Brazilian bagging five goals so far this campaign.
Since Liam Delap left the club in the summer for Nottingham Forest, who previously wore the number nine shirt before Joao Pedro, the ex-Brighton man decided to trademark "JP9" as his own now, too.
A celebration we may not see again for some time, with the Brazilian sidelined through injury.
Many Chelsea number nines before Joao Pedro have fallen victim to the curse of that specific number, but since Pedro donned the infamous number at the beginning of this season, that curse hasn't seemed to have been affecting his performances, although injury has recently plagued his good run of form.
Pedro took to LinkedIn, something that he has done recently, announcing his reasoning for signing a new deal on the same platform. He started his post by saying, "Having the number 9 shirt at Chelsea Football Club means a lot to me, but I’ve always wanted JP9 to represent something beyond football."
"After conversations with Beats by Dre about my Brazilian heritage and my vision for celebrating JP9, they designed a logo that reflects who I am, both on and off the pitch. That logo now features on my custom Beats headphones, bringing the JP9 identity to life beyond football."
"From there, I sat down with my team to look at how we could protect that identity, including my goal celebration."
"I have trademarked both JP9 and my celebration. For me, it’s about building something that has meaning beyond the game and creating an identity that I can continue to develop throughout my career."
"This is another step towards building something of my own, with the ambition to create an identity that grows with me throughout my career and beyond football.""
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