When Joao Pedro led the team out at Vicarage Road wearing the captain’s armband for the game against Blackburn, it was easy to forget he only turned 21 in September.

He upped sticks at just 18, moving not just from another country but a totally different continent with a very different climate and way of life to that which he found when he left Brazil to live in England and play for Watford.

After arriving in January 2020 and playing in two FA Cup ties with Tranmere, he then endured a lockdown and relegation, making three brief substitute appearances at the end of the season.

Since then he has become a mainstay of the first team, been linked with moves away and had to cope with major injuries.

He’s probably the first name most Watford fans would put on their teamsheet, and head coach Slaven Bilic showed just how much faith he has in Pedro by making him skipper.

“I watched Joao a lot since he came to England and before I came to Watford. He always looked to me like a very talented player,” Bilic said.

“He was young and young players have ups and downs, but immediately you could see the talent he has.

“When I came he was initially injured, then he came back and then he was injured again. Now he’s back and that is a real difference.”

Bilic said he had no hesitation in making Pedro captain because he behaves in a manner that belies his relatively tender years.

“He is a top player despite being so young. He is very mature for his age, and he talks and behaves like someone who is older.

“He’s also very consistent and a leader on the pitch. He has improved incredibly in a short space of time.

“Also, he likes the little chats that we have and he knows what it is we want him to do. He wants to work with us to hit the highs that we know he should be able to hit.”

On Monday, Bilic faces former club West Brom, who he steered to promotion into the Premier League in the 2019/20 season.

“I enjoyed my time there a lot, especially in the Championship when we got promoted. That was a big success,” he said.

“They are a big and very traditional club, a place with a good Academy which meant we had a lot of domestic and homegrown players.

“The atmosphere at the stadium was good, the energy in the squad was good. We got promoted and unfortunately when we got to the Premier League we had to learn some lessons quite quickly because the majority of the players didn’t have any experience of playing in the Premier League.

“By the time we started to be competitive against the big boys, I was gone.

“Then they went down and they’ve had two or three seasons in the Championship and they are now doing really well with a new manager.”