You could hear the scoffing all the way from West London when Coach Enzo Maresca left his post at Chelsea. That wasn’t the cause of the jeers. Rather, it was the club then handing a long-term contract to Liam Rosenior which, if he sees it all the way through, will make him the Blues’ manager until 2032.
Neutral observers might have understood the Chelsea faithful for thinking, 'Rosenior, really? The fullback who played 79 games for Fulham without doing anything memorable? The coach who raised RC Strasbourg from 13th all the way to 7th in the French league? He takes charge of a Champions League team?'
The sceptics only grew louder after Chelsea failed to get the dead-cat bounce from Maresca’s resignation, losing to Fulham the day after Rosenior’s hiring, though that result could well have been chalked up to Marc Cucurella’s first-half red card.
Liam Rosenior has been handed a gift at Chelsea
However, Rosenior’s first game fully in charge was the Blues’ dominant 5-1 victory over Charlton at The Valley, and he couldn’t have failed to notice the difference that his 66th-minute substitution made in the game.
That’s when Estêvão went in for Jamie Gittens and impacted things immediately, forcing Will Mannion into three saves before drawing a penalty from the Addicks’ goalkeeper, which Enzo Fernández converted to put a bow on the win.
Of course, this was against a team that currently sits in the relegation zone of the Championship. Nevertheless, the Brazilian winger has passed the eye test in his 17 Premier League games and five Champions League matches this season. He is not just a flat-track bully, either, as his one Premier League goal so far was a match-winner against Liverpool, and one of his three Champions League goals came in the Blues’ win over Barcelona.
Nor does this seem like a flash in the pan. The São Paulo native was also wowing observers for Palmeiras during the summer’s Club World Cup, demonstrating composure beyond his 18 years as he caused trouble down the left side against the likes of Porto and Chelsea, which wound up winning the competition.
For attacking width, Chelsea have demonstrated a preference for the seasoned Pedro Neto, the expensive acquisition Alejandro Garnacho, and occasionally Cole Palmer. However, it takes no act of genius to see that the new manager might make life easier for himself by giving more playing time to the bright and eager teenager who so far has lived up to the hype.