Enzo Maresca says Chelsea’s teenage star Estevao is still adapting to Premier League: ‘He was complaining about being cold!’ | OneFootball

Estevao is still adapting to the Premier League after moving to England from Brazil, says Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca.

The 18-year-old winger has brought plenty of excitment to the Chelsea side during his 15 appearances this season, in which he has scored four goals and made one assist. However, the majority of his Premier League minutes have come from the bench and there has been clamour from some fans for more starts.

Estevao played only five minutes in Chelsea’s last league game – the 1-0 win at Tottenham last weekend – before playing the full 90 minutes against Qarabag in the Champions League, where he scored and was the Blues’ best attacking threat in a 2-2 draw.

Ahead of the visit of Wolves to Stamford Bridge on Saturday night, Maresca was asked whether Estevao is ready to start back-to-back games, and the Chelsea manager joked that his young star was still getting used to the British weather.

“He’s ready to start, for sure. But if he starts, another one is on the bench and the other one wants to start. He is still trying to adapt to England. He was complaining about it being cold last week and it was October. Wait until December and January! I say ‘it’s still hot’.”

Estevao in action for Chelsea against Tottenham last weekend (Getty Images)

Maresca has plenty of options on the wings where Alejandro Garnacho, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Pedro Neto are all vying for a starting spot. The manager has been criticised for heavily rotating his starting XI from game to game, most notably by Wayne Rooney, who said “players won’t be happy” with the “chopping and changing”.

Maresca responded: “I said already many times: we are in an era when anyone can say what they want. I said after the Qarabag game: since I joined the club, it is also my view to rotate players. When you don’t win games, nobody agrees. ]

“When it’s Andrey Santos, Brazil international, Jorrel Hato, Netherlands international, Joao Pedro, Brazil international – it’s not about rotation. They are young, you have to give them the chances to make mistakes so they can become better.”