Estévão’s Talent Proves Chelsea Can Compete Today | OneFootball

Some players wait years for moments of individual glory that rarely, if ever, arrive. Some may get one fleeting moment; others wade through seasons of struggle before finally culminating in a triumph.

Not Estévão Willian

For this young man, such patience is not required.

Only officially joining the club in July and making his debut in August, the 18-year-old has not even reached his first Christmas in west London and has already collected two career highlights.

His first Premier League goal was not a mere afterthought. It was the small matter of a last-minute winner to down Liverpool—prompting his own coach to take a red card after sprinting down the touchline in celebration. His next was an individual moment of trickery to overwhelm Barcelona under the lights, with the world watching.

Estévão does not do subtle. His talent is a blazing, bright billboard in the middle of Times Square or Piccadilly Circus. There is no avoiding how exceptional he is, or what he can become on the world stage.

Mediocre-to-alright players do not strut onto the scene like he has. They do not command the sudden approval of the crowd, who beckon him from the bench and celebrate his mere introduction with noise levels comparable to a goal being scored.

Landmark Moments

Tuesday night was another landmark occasion for Chelsea. Unlike recent years, this one was positive. For too long they have signposted how far the club had fallen from its once-lofty perch. The difference since the spring has been the reversal in fortunes under Enzo Maresca.

Chelsea are now getting used to winning big games. And what is significant is not only that they are winning them—it is the emphatic nature of the dismantling of seemingly daunting opposition with surprising ease. PSG (French champions), Barcelona (Spanish champions), and Liverpool (English champions) have all been beaten by the Blues since July.

There was some briefing after the 3–0 battering of Barcelona that the club are not getting carried away, insisting that the Premier League title is still beyond them and that competing for the European Cup may be too much. But why? The wins at the Club World Cup and the downing of major opposition are landmarks of progression—signposts of where the club must be heading.

If the north star inside the club isn’t to lift the Premier League and the Champions League, then the people inside are at the wrong club. Today matters as much as tomorrow. Estevão is still incredibly young, and it is clear from Maresca’s words and actions that restraint has been used to ensure a smooth integration into a new country. That is understandable.

Unleash the Estévão

But there comes a point when the training wheels have to come off. The irony of Estevão’s outrageous talent is that, for all he represents as proof of Chelsea’s youth strategy, his impact has been instant. He is deciding important games right now.

Chelsea may still be incapable of winning the title this season, but a talent like Estevão might propel them to a far more competitive place than they have occupied at any point in the past decade.

You can follow my coverage of Chelsea on YouTube at SonOfChelsea. More written coverage of the club on Substack. Follow me on X for more thoughts, along with listening to the podcast.