What Chelsea can expect from Estevao when they face their own player in a Club World Cup quarter-final

New York Times

6 hours ago

In an intriguing turn of events, teenage starlet Estevao will be free to line up against his future employers on Friday when Palmeiras play Chelsea in their Club World Cup quarter-final fixture.
The 18-year-old is bound for the Premier League next season after agreeing a €34million (£29m, $39m) deal with Chelsea that kicks in after the Club World Cup is over.
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There have been shortage of reasons to watch Estevao this summer and there was another on Saturday afternoon, with manager Abel Ferreira asking him to play a less familiar role on the left side of his attack in an all-Brazilian clash with Botafogo.
It seemed that Ferreira was doing his best to bamboozle the Botafogo coach, Renato Paiva, with the Portuguese pair having a close friendship for many years — often swapping notes on training sessions and matches over Zoom during the pandemic when they were both working in Europe.
'There were some changes, we put Estevao as a left winger, so this might have been surprising,' Ferreira said after the game.' But they didn't last more than 10 minutes because he (Paiva) adapted to the new dynamic, and he also surprised me. I have played against Renato for a while, and I think he has upgraded his mindset.'
So often causing chaos from the right wing or in a No. 10 position during his 18 months of senior football, Estevao's task to operate on the left flank was novel. As something of a pawn in the game of tactical chess between Ferreira and Paiva, the broad conclusion was that the experiment did not quite work out for the teenager.
Given his tendency to drop a shoulder and wriggle out of tight areas from the right, Estevao was less sure which direction to go when he received the ball on the left — often running into cul-de-sacs in the early stages of the game. Being unable to cut inside onto his stronger foot meant that the Brazilian was often running out of space, forced onto his right foot before making unthreatening passes into the middle of the pitch.
Knowing that he was looking to run the line on his stronger left foot, Botafogo right-back Vitinho was able to step in with ease and shrug Estevao off the ball with well-timed challenges like the example below.
Things improved slightly in the second half, as Estevao moved into a slightly more narrow position from the left — being afforded less defensive responsibility as he looked to stay high and punish Botafogo if they dared to commit too many players forward.
There was still time for some promising moments — including some threatening crosses, a stinging shot and even a disallowed goal — with the highlight of the second half including a beautiful, Neymar-esque flick and near-perfect threaded pass in the beaming Philadelphia sunshine.
Nevertheless, Ferreria's experiment with Estevao on the left was ultimately underwhelming, with the 18-year-old taken off just after the hour mark when Palmeiras were still looking to unlock the Botafogo defence.
The dazzling qualities are without doubt but given his upcoming fixture, the pertinent question is whether Estevao is ready to threaten Chelsea's starting XI next season.
With Noni Madueke, Pedro Neto, and the incoming Jamie Gittens all vying for a spot on the flanks themselves, Estevao will have to push his way past some stiff competition to regularly get his name on Enzo Maresca's teamsheet.
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If he is looking for a spot in the No 10 role — a position he is comfortable playing — displacing Palmer might just be one of the toughest tasks in European football at the moment.
Besides, it would be sensible for Chelsea to ease Estevao into the rigours of Premier League football, with the physical step up from the Brazilian Serie A one that would rightfully need to be managed.
Chelsea have shown that they are not afraid to dip into the South American market, and have taken that exact approach for 18-year-old Kendry Paez, who joined the club from Ecuadorian Independiente Del Valle in 2023. Having built up his fitness and physique with Chelsea and BlueCo-owned Strasbourg, Paez will now join the French club on loan next season in search of more senior minutes.
Albeit in a different role, the same can be said for Andrey Santos, who arrived at Chelsea from Vasco da Gama, with loan spells at Nottingham Forest and Strasbourg helping his development and transition from Serie A to the Premier League.
Will Estevao follow the same path? Quite possibly. It would not be outrageous to say that Chelsea fans may not see the best of the Brazilian international for a couple of seasons yet.
In truth, such a steady pathway is not uncommon for South American prodigies making the move to Europe. Real Madrid's Endrick has needed time to settle into life in La Liga since making the move from Palmeiras last summer, with the 18-year-old seemingly following a similar, scaffolded development pathway as Madrid team-mates Vinicus Jr and Rodyrgo — who also arrived in Spain directly from Brazil.
If Estevao needed a cautionary tale about the step up to European demands, he need only look as far as Palmeiras team-mate Vitor Roque, who left Athletico Paranaense for Barcelona as an 18-year-old in 2023, before a disappointing time in Spain has seen him return to Brazil permanently in February.
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Palmeiras's group-stage clash with Porto was Estevao's first game against European opposition in his embryonic career. Friday's quarter-final will double that tally in a game that will provide extra motivation for the teenager to show his future club what they have invested in.
If Chelsea want a true live scouting report, restoring Estevao to his preferred right flank might be the best way for him to showcase his real quality.