Chelsea star Cole Palmer has said that Estevao Willian has got “amazing quality” as the Brazilian prepares to officially join the club.
The Blues first struck a deal with Palmeiras to sign Estevao last year after agreeing an initial £29m fee that could rise above £50m with add-ons.
In a rather unique scenario, Chelsea’s Club World Cup quarter-final against Palmeiras saw them come up against the teenage Brazilian forward.
On what was his final assignment for his boyhood club, the highly-rated 18-year-old signed off with a brilliant goal early in the second half which cancelled out Palmer’s opener.
Though Estevao ended up on the losing side, he certainly caught the eye of his future teammates, even swapping shirts with Palmer at the final whistle.
The pair spoke after game, although the language barrier proved to be somewhat of an obstacle in getting a message across.
Palmer revealed: “I just said we look forward to seeing you but he didn’t understand that word I said!
“But, yes, he’s a top player. Obviously, he’s only young as well.
“When he comes to England, people need to give him time to adapt to the culture, the language.
“He’s still only 18 or 19 but you can see he’s got amazing quality and we look forward to seeing him.”
We don’t have any doubt, as he is so good, that he is going to be an important player for Chelsea
Enzo Maresca echoed the thoughts of the Chelsea No10, tipping Estevao to become an “important player” for the club.
“You can see he is a huge talent, you can see is a fantastic player,” Maresca said. “The only thing now is when you come from South America or another part of the world to Europe you need to adapt.
“We are going to help him to adapt and first of all to enjoy football. We don’t have any doubt, as he is so good, that he is going to be an important player for Chelsea.”
