Anifowose Samson
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca believes new signing Estevao Willian will be ready for the rough and tumble of the Premier League.
Estevao, 18, showed Chelsea fans a glimpse of what to expect when he scored a stunning goal against his future team-mates at the Club World Cup on Friday night.
Playing for Palmeiras before he completes his move to Stamford Bridge later this month, Estevao made it clear during the first half that he was still completely committed to the Brazilian side and he crunched into multiple tackles.
Then, eight minutes into the second half, he demonstrated his sharp eye for goal by smashing a shot inside keeper Robert Sanchez’s near post from a narrow angle.
Estevao had collected a pass inside the penalty area with a sharp touch using his left foot, before striding past Levi Colwill and lashing home via the crossbar with his right.
That goal made it 1-1 in the quarter-final encounter after Cole Palmer had put Chelsea ahead on 16 minutes.
But Chelsea eventually triumphed 2-1 courtesy of a late own goal by Agustin Giay.
Asked during his post-match presser, if he is confident Estevao will be ready to take on the physicality of the English topflight, Maresca replied:”Yes. Very good, very good. You can see that he’s a huge talent. You can see that he’s a fantastic player. And the only thing for me is when you come from South America or in general from the other part of the world, Europe, you need to adapt. So, we’re going to help him to adapt.
“First of all, to be happy, to continue to enjoy football. And we don’t have any doubt because he’s so good that he’s going to be a very important player for Chelsea.”
Estevao agreed his transfer to Chelsea last summer but was not allowed to move until after his 18th birthday, which was in April.
The London club will pay £29million for the attacking midfielder, who has already made five senior appearances for Brazil.
Maresca: We Deserved To Beat Palmeiras
Reflecting on the win against Palmeiras, Maresca said Chelsea were worthy winners.
“Personally, I think the first half we were in control of the game. We didn’t concede nothing. We scored the goal and we could score some more goals. Second half, they started better than us, they scored. The game changed a little bit, the dynamic changed. But then I think the last 20-25 minutes we were in control again. I think we deserved to win the game without being lucky.
The Blues will face another Brazilian side Fluminense in the semi-finals.
To get to the last four Fluminense defeated Saudi Arabia club Al Hilal 2-1.
On what stands out about Fluminense, the Italian said:”Until today, I was focused on Palmeiras. But once again, as I said yesterday, show how good is the Brazilian football. From tomorrow, I will start to be focused on Fluminense. I watched this afternoon’s game. I watched some games that they have played. And you can see that they are very well organised. They have some very good players. The manager is doing a fantastic job.”
Maresca added:”And again, it will be the same final. The energy from the Brazilian team in this competition has been high energy. Probably the reason why is because you are starting now the season, while we are finishing the season. So, the energy is normal. It is different. And we try to deal with that in a different way.”
