Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has called for restraint from supporters regarding the highly anticipated arrival of Brazilian prodigy Estevao Willian.
The 18-year-old's £29 million transfer from Palmeiras was initially agreed in May 2024, but he remained in Brazil for a year, even finding the net against his new club during a Club World Cup encounter in the United States in July.
Having netted 27 goals and provided 15 assists across 83 appearances for Palmeiras, Estevao finally completed his move to west London this week.
Widely regarded as one of Brazil's most promising young talents, Maresca is keen to ensure that expectations surrounding Estevao are tempered ahead of the upcoming season.
“We need to pay a little bit more attention, because first of all he’s from the other part of the world and also he’s very, very young,” he said. “So we need to pay attention.
“As I said, (he is) not under pressure, give him happiness, give him time, he needs to adapt. Hopefully we can give him minutes, so he’s even more happy. But for sure, he’s a talented player.
“For me, the biggest mistake we can do with him is to put him under pressure. He’s very young, he needs to adapt.
“I met him for the first time in the USA when we played against Palmeiras. He’s a fantastic player, he’s very young, he’s a happy boy. He’s always laughing, typical from a Brazilian guy, and we need to keep him happy.”
Estevao is one of six summer signings expected to be part of Maresca’s squad this season.
And with 10 departures it has been another summer of change at the club’s Cobham training base.
Maresca has previously said he expects players to be able to play in a number of roles and wants at least two players for each position.
Nominally a winger, Estevao is likely to be deployed across Chelsea’s attacking line.
“He can play everywhere,” said Maresca. “He’s so good. For me, he’s like Cole (Palmer), in terms of – careful – he is like Cole in terms of his position.
“He can play outside, he can play inside, he can play everywhere. In our five attacking positions, for me, he can play everywhere.”
Maresca confirmed that defender Levi Colwill is a doubt for the start of the new Premier League season.
The Blues kick off at home to Crystal Palace on August 17 but after picking up a knock in training the 22-year-old could miss out, possibly opening the door to new defensive signing from Ajax, Jorrel Hato.
“We had a problem the last two days with Levi Colwill, that we don’t know how long he is going to be out,” said Maresca.
“So for us, we will see, hopefully not too long, but for sure it’s a problem for us. We need to wait, we don’t know yet.”
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