Outside of Stamford Bridge, all along the pavements of Fulham Road, the merch stalls were selling scarves featuring the faces of Cole Palmer, Liam Delap, Enzo Fernandez, Joao Pedro, Moises Caicedo, even Nicolas Jackson and Thiago Silva.
Given Jackson is up for sale this month and Silva is no longer at Chelsea, you might have nabbed theirs for less than the advertised £20 with a little haggling.
There were no scarves for Estevao Willian on sale, but there will be soon enough. That much is evident after witnessing the contagious excitement coursing through Stamford Bridge in their pair of pre-season victories over Bayer Leverkusen and AC Milan.
Chelsea beat Leverkusen 2-0 and Milan 4-1 and there was a tangible buzz whenever the 18-year-old Brazilian, who arrived from Palmeiras this summer after signing for £29million rising to £56m back when he was 17, had the ball. To hell with hyperbole, they saw him as electric, energetic, everything they hoped he would be as he teased the joga bonito spirit he will bring to their team.
Estevao’s agent, Andre Cury, previously told us how his client chose Chelsea because it was his understanding that he would get to play in the No 10 position. That was the case in these friendlies while he was also used on the right wing when Palmer was on the pitch. Wherever he was, there was no wiping the smile from his face, as if he could not believe he was finally here.
Against Leverkusen on Friday, Estevao scored within 17 minutes, though the talk afterwards was more on the telepathic understanding between Estevao and Palmer. They cannot converse with one another. Estevao speaks only Portuguese and Palmer, English. But as the Bundesliga visitors discovered, each is fluent in the art of football, their feet speaking the same language.
Chelsea wonderkid Estevao dazzled again in the 4-1 friendly victory against AC Milan
The electric 18-year-old teased the joga bonito spirit he will bring to the team
He has already been compared to Eden Hazard but his potential is so extreme
Against Milan on Sunday, Estevao was a substitute, replacing Palmer in the 61st minute. He won a penalty against the Serie A side in the 67th when Yunus Musah stopped him from meeting Liam Delap’s cross. Estevao appeared interested in taking it himself but when Delap asked if he could have it instead, having not yet scored in pre-season while Joao Pedro had been grabbing goals for fun, he handed the ball to his team-mate without a modicum of fuss.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, working pitch-side as a pundit for Channel 5, likened Estevao to Eden Hazard. It was a hefty comparison and one which figures in football would usually avoid making on a teenager who has yet to play in the Premier League, no matter how mercurial. Sometimes, exceptions must be made when the potential is so extreme.
Estevao deserves time like everyone else new to England and Europe and he will get that. Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca spoke to his Palmeiras counterpart Abel Ferreira over the summer and was told that the player he is inheriting must be protected.
With that in mind, Maresca is unlikely to throw him immediately into his Premier League line-up. Chances are we will see Palmer at No 10 and Pedro Neto on the right wing in next weekend’s Premier League opener versus Crystal Palace.
The fact that Maresca made no half-time changes in Sunday’s win over Milan suggested this team is the one that he will select to take on Palace.
But in Estevao, they have a precociously gifted player itching to earn his place after waiting 14 months to turn up at Chelsea. If he can perform as he has been for Palmeiras in Brazil, he would become impossible to ignore, even at 18 years old.
As well as Estevao, there is significant enthusiasm around Chelsea at the other signings they have made. Every goal scored in these friendly wins over Leverkusen and Milan came from a summer newbie, save for when Milan’s Andrei Coubis bundled the ball beyond his own goalkeeper.
Joao Pedro got two, Delap got two, and Estevao the one, while Jamie Gittens, Andrey Santos, Jorrel Hato and Caicedo’s deputy Dario Essugo showed what they can add to Maresca’s side.
Estevao will need time to adapt to the Premier League, but he is itching to earn his place
If he can perform as he has been for Palmeiras in Brazil, he would become impossible to ignore
The newbie generating the most excitement has also been performing with a smile on his face
But Estevao is the newbie generating the greatest excitement.
Much like the merch stalls outside, you could find nothing relating to him inside Chelsea’s official megastore. His name had not even been added to an ageing board telling you whose name and number you can have printed on the back of your 2025-26 shirt.
The queue for that service was snaking on Sunday. A chap at the front of the line told Daily Mail Sport he had waited more than an hour to get ‘Palmer’ and ’10’ pressed on his.
Palmer sells more merch than anyone else at Chelsea because he captures the imagination as much as any of his peers, though he is now facing competition from Estevao in that regard.
