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How Xabi Alonso conversation unleashed Chelsea's wildcard option
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- How Xabi Alonso conversation unleashed Chelsea's wildcard option
Late on at Stamford Bridge on Saturday and Estevao plays a give-and-go with Morgan Rogers, shooting powerfully towards the far corner but then jolting his head right up to the heavens in anguish as Manchester United's Senne Lammens saves.
The Brazilian's frustration in that moment is palpable, and quite understandable.
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Already he had seen two goals disallowed for tight offsides, and he was having one of those days, he felt, when the ball just won't go in for you. But failure to score on his much-belated first Premier League start of the season was not the key takeaway in the eyes of anyone but himself. He had made his impact.
Made his point, too. Estevao was one of the Premier League's breakout stars last term but has had to wait so patiently for the chance to feel wanted and valued under Alonso.
Opportunity taken: Estevao (Getty)
This was the day to unleash him.
Should that day have come earlier? Without question, it should. Geovany Quenda — also 19, but more raw than Estevao — struggled against Tottenham, and at Anfield in their Carabao Cup defeat last Wednesday, Chelsea were again crying out for Estevao's devilment which was never summoned.
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But Alonso had a plan; better late than never. He told him he would be starting against United almost a week in advance, ample time to prepare.
Estevao is the latest obsession back home in Brazil, already a gem for the national team under Carlo Ancelotti, and he had played as much this season for them as for his club until let loose on Michael Carrick's unsturdy defence.
What of that creaking United backline there was left to unsettle, Estevao unsettled. The one constant when you hear people talking about the teen is mention of his uncanny ability to lift fans up off their seats. That was noticeable again as he drove into space, carrying the ball deep into United's half, working the angle to shoot when he could but never happier than when hurtling into open turf with his impossibly low centre of gravity and the ball at his feet.
"Every time I got the ball I tried to give it to him, to show what he could do," Cole Palmer said, still unrivalled as Chelsea's main character but with an older-brotherly fondness for the wonderkid.
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Fresh reports in Spain this week of interest from Barcelona in Estevao should come as no surprise, but Alonso insists his young star is going nowhere in January. As Chelsea prepare for Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, where they lost in Estevao's absence on the final day of last season, it is now inconceivable that the youngster is left unused as often for the remainder of the season as he has been up to this point.
Budding relationship: Estevao and Xabi Alonso (Getty)
Alonso sees him as a right winger rather than a wing-back, and perhaps it is merely a reflection of his stiff competition with Palmer, Rogers and Joao Pedro — the front three that picks itself — that explains why a player with such prodigious talent has played so fleeting a part in Chelsea's season. Whatever the reason, it has pained him.
The first of Estevao's two disallowed goals was reminiscent of his stunner against Barca in the Champions League last term and his influence on Saturday was immense, surely enough to convince Alonso he can play the roles of impact sub or starting lineup wildcard as and when each best fits.
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The Chelsea manager would do well to remember that keeping the Blues' impressionable young star onside is important and keeping the club's fanbase onside is critical all the same. The cheers were piercing when Estevao's name was read out and whenever he ran at United. Patience shown, Estevao's time has come.
