Chelsea to pay more for little Messi with Blues boss excited for arrival

Chelsea Football Club will definitely now have to pay a little extra for an incoming starlet. The young player has already acquired the nickname 'little Messi' in his native Brazil. Great form was exhibited this season; the Brazilian campaign is at a later stage than the English Premier League. Estevao Willian's development appears to be going brilliantly, and is possibly ahead of schedule. So much so that his soon-to-be gaffer - unless further changes occur at Stamford Bridge - recently spoke about the youthful winger. The ex-Manchester City coach under Pep Guardiola and contemporary CFC boss Enzo Maresca is undoubtedly excited for the time when he can have Estevao on his roster. When will that be? What's been said? And what's been happening with the world-class 17-year-old?

Maybe, just maybe, Chelsea's radical and unforseen punt of a transfer strategy will be proven right when this potential gem is fully unearthed

The scattergun approach has been well-documented and fully deconstructed as a bad footballing philosophy. I have done so too; I totally agree with the vast majority that Behdad Eghbali, the modern driving force at CFC, truly messed up alongside Todd Boehly, supposedly once the most influential person at the Bridge.

Then there are Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart; the so-called sporting director duo were probably 'yes men'. Nonetheless they are still to blame or to thank, or will eventually be. They unavoidably went along with the awkward, unprecedented and likely unsuccessful policy of spending 95 percent of an unnecessarily inflated budget on mere up-and-comers.

However, just to embrace the contrarian inside me, which you'll be aware of if you regularly visit The Pride of London, none of us are currently correct or incorrect with regards to the peculiar way Chelsea now conduct business. Not to mention the fact we'll have to wait at least four or five years to see how these prospects develop overall, to be fair, .

Estevao Willian's growth prior to joining the Blues

Due to Estevao's stunning Palmeiras form in South America, where he's netted 15 goals and added 10 assists in 41 appearances over the year, he's in European headlines again. If you have the sobriquet 'Messinho' and are playing Série A football at such a tender age - you're probably a budding star.

So what does Maresca think of the teenager dubbed a "genius" by Neymar? And what did Fabrizio Romano reveal about add-ons?

"Yes, we are following him. He is doing fantastic - but, unfortunately, he is doing fantastic there and not with us. We are going to wait until next summer when he will arrive here but, for sure, we are very happy in the way he is doing these things."

- Enzo Maresca

"This is very good news for Chelsea for the future but also for Palmeiras because they’re performing very well but also they’re making money because part of the add-ons in the contract of Willian Estevao are also for the performances of Willian Estevao this season at Palmeiras before joining Chelsea in 2025. So every goal, every assist is also money for Palmeiras."

- Fabrizio Romano