Please, do not call Estevao Willian ‘Messinho’ or ‘Little Messi’, no matter how tempting when you first watch him play. The Palmeiras wonderkid, who is set to face his future club Chelsea in the Club World Cup on Friday night before joining them when his tournament ends, does not like the nickname because of the comparison.
At first, he was like Lionel Messi because of his left foot and quick decision-making, but then followed the comparisons with Neymar, after all they are both talented Brazilians. Now, some people see a resemblance between him and Lamine Yamal of Barcelona, because of their playing styles.
But he’s got no interest in that, despite the complimentary nature of comparisons with Yamal’s left-footed dribbling or being a goal threat like any of the three Barcelona stars past and present mentioned above.
Estevao has always been better than those he was up against, however. At 13 he was already in the Under 17 side at Cruzeiro, his first major club that he joined aged 10 and who play seven hours away from his hometown of Franca, in the state of Sao Paulo.
His rise to the Under 17s happened at a time that the club felt he could improve even more on his technical ability, despite facing players four years older and already significantly more developed physically.
‘Multiple times, I would take his hand and start moving him to the side,’ remembers Mario Henrique, his Under 17s coach. ‘I would say to him, “Come to the side, come to the side, come to the side”, but I was much more concerned about the athletes injuring him than him actually creating any game-related problems.
Estevao Willian will take on his future club Chelsea when they face Palmeiras in Friday night’s Club World Cup quarter-final
The 18-year-old is one of the hottest prospects in world football and cost Chelsea £29million
His left-footed wing play has drawn comparisons to Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal – against his will
Estevao in Cruzeiro’s youth teams, being overseen by his Under 17s coach Mario Henrique
‘That was so he would constantly look for open space, because when he had open space to make decisions, the field would open up for him, making things much better. And he was able to understand that very well.
‘Regarding the nickname, it’s because he had the same characteristics as Messi. He was an athlete with excellent ball control, an extraordinary relationship with the ball, very similar to Messi indeed.
‘He wouldn’t let it get away; he had it very much under the control of his left foot, with high-intensity actions and changes of direction. We truly believe the nickname came from this resemblance, in terms of his dribbling, being very direct, constantly looking for the goal, but with a lot of control over his ball handling.’
If Estevao’s talent was out of the ordinary then so was the way he prepared himself and dedicated his life to football. He made that 280-miles journey from Franca to Belo Horizonte to join Cruzeiro with his family when he was just 10, and set about his dream.
On-field activities included a preventive warm-up, which involved strength training and perhaps endurance work or whatever the physical trainer was implementing. Doctors, physiotherapists, physical preparation, physiology, all together with the technical staff, worked to make him a better player.
Estevao was with Cruzeiro until 2021 but then came scandal. He had been named two years earlier, among others, in an investigation into the club’s vice-president. It was claimed that the vice-president was making deals with agents and giving them a stake in youth teams and professional players as part of a promise to pay debts.
That’s prohibited by FIFA and Brazilian law, and Ivo Goncalves, Estevao’s father, was indicted by the public prosecutor’s office along with six others.
That broke the trust between the family and Cruzeiro, with Goncalves claiming that he was a victim of a political dispute with the club, who he says did not give them enough legal aid to help his cause.
Estevao and his family moved 280 miles from Franca to Belo Horizonte in 2017 when he was just 10, so that he could sign for Cruzeiro
Estevao scored three goals in five Under 17 caps for Brazil, and has gone on to be a mainstay of the senior side
At 17 he was the youngest ever winner of Brazil’s player of the year award last season
Days before, 14-year-old Estevao had committed his future to Palmeiras. His agent since his early days, and the one who secured his £29million move to Chelsea two years ago, is Andre Cury.
Lucas Andrade, his Palmeiras Under 20s coach who also worked with Estevao in the Brazil national team’s age-group sides, thinks that his adaptation to Premier League football will be easy because the major leagues look for players that can create individual solutions, especially in dribbling.
‘Estevao fits this profile exactly,’ says Andrade. ‘He’s capable of solving problems in the very small spaces that modern football presents, such as deep defensive lines or sequential coverages. He can create pathways with his dribbling.
‘Furthermore, he’s a competitive young man who strives to fulfil the coach’s requests, while also offering unique solutions through his individuality and talent. He’s very much aligned with what major European clubs are looking for today, especially for the forward position that can break through the last defensive line.
‘The clearest and earliest indication I had that Estevao would play at the highest level was during a friendly match for the Brazilian national team against Ecuador. I was working with him at Palmeiras as an assistant for the Under 20s team.
‘The way he carried himself and the natural way he took on a leading role in every sense alongside players a year older than him showed me he was a very serious player.
‘Within the club, a very relevant game was a cup semi-final against Corinthians. We won both the first and second legs, and he had an extremely mature, decisive, and influential performance in the match..’
Estevao made his Palmeiras senior debut at the end of 2023, playing 12 minutes off the bench in a 1-1 draw away to Cruzeiro, poignantly, which sealed the league title. He was the club’s fourth-youngest player.
He hates the comparisons with Lionel Messi, who he faced in the group stage of the Club World Cup
He has an eye for goal as well as a highly skilled dribbling style
He will join a growing South American contingent at Chelsea when he officially joins after his Club World Cup campaign finishes
He was made a permanent member of the first team for the 2024 season and took the league by storm, scoring 13 goals and providing nine assists in 31 games at the age of just 17, becoming the youngest ever player to win ESPN Brazil’s player of the year award.
That summer, the deal with Chelsea was struck, and he joins a growing South American contingent there with compatriots Andrey Santos and Deivid Washington, plus Ecuadorian pair Moises Caicedo and Kendry Paez.
At Palmeiras, they refer to the ‘Generation of a Billion’, a quartet of outstanding wonderkids they hope will earn them a billion Brazilian reais (£133.2m).
The prophecy is close to being fulfilled, with Estevao’s £29m fee added on to £60m from Real Madrid for Endrick and £25m from West Ham for Luis Guilherme. Luighi, the fourth member, is a 19-year-old forward who is also in Palmeiras’ Club World Cup squad.
To cap, quite literally, a historic 2024, Estevao made his senior debut for Brazil in September last year, coming off the bench in the 61st minute as the Selecao beat Ecuador 1-0. He has since gone on to win five caps in all, including his first start last month in the first game of Carlo Ancelotti’s reign.
He will be among the greatest hopes for the nation that adores the World Cup like no other next summer in North America. But pressure is something that Estevao welcomes.
Like many Samba starlets, he reached stardom very early. When he was 10 he became Nike’s youngest ever Brazilian athlete, beating records set by Neymar (aged 13) and Real Madrid winger Rodrygo (11).
Going to Chelsea, however, will be a new challenge in his life. He has already admitted during the Club World Cup that going to Stamford Bridge made it harder for him to concentrate in the competition. Little did he know that he would be facing his new side with a semi-final place on the line.
Estevao has five senior Brazil caps, and made his first start against Ecuador last month
He will be one of Carlo Ancelotti’s key players at next summer’s World Cup in North America
Estevao’s dream is to play in Europe – and is fulfilling a prophecy of Palmeiras’ ‘Generation of a Billion’
‘It’s very difficult,’ he said. ‘It’s a dream I’m going to fulfil, knowing I have to stay focused here and work. It’s not easy. I have to keep my head in the game here. The closer it gets, the anxiety kicks in, the butterflies in my stomach.
‘I’m trying my best to focus as much as possible here so I can leave well, with my head held high, through the front door, and knowing that I gave my all.
‘My family keeps my feet on the ground, pushing me to focus on doing my best here, to keep my head in the game. Sometimes it’s hard.
‘You imagine yourself in Europe, playing with many other players, with everything that Europe represents – a dream of mine.’
