Abel Ferreira hesitated for a second, insisted he wouldn’t say what he had in his mind, but then – in a rare moment of full disclosure when it comes to young talents – he opened up.
“This player is different from everything I’ve ever seen,” the Palmeiras coach said in a press conference in May 2024, following a 2-1 win over Botafogo-SP in the Brazilian Cup.
The two-time Libertadores champion is not particularly known for letting himself get carried away too easily, especially in front of the cameras. But that night, he allowed himself to speak freely because he couldn’t believe his eyes – then 17-year-old Estevao had just scored the winner in the final minutes and put on a spectacular show once more.
Such is the impact the left-footed winger had the season before last that Ferreira tried, in vain, to convince the club board not to sell him. That was too late, though.
Chelsea beat the competition of the likes of Bayern Munich, Paris St-Germain and Manchester City to sign the Palmeiras wonderkid in a deal that could eventually be worth £52m and that will see him arrive at Stamford Bridge after Fifa’s new Club World Cup in July 2025.
Other Brazilian teenagers such as Vinicius Jr and Rodrygo left for Europe at the same age for huge fees. They’ve both proved themselves already on the big stages since then. But none of them were as hyped as Estevao when they first moved abroad.
There’s a feeling in Brazil that the boy from the countryside of Sao Paulo may be something else, the kind of player that comes along once a decade and seems destined to the very top.
“Estevao is the best player to have emerged from Brazilian football since Neymar. You watch him and you fall in love,” the head of Palmeiras’ academy, Joao Paulo Sampaio, told BBC Sport.
“He already impresses with his technique but, like Neymar at this same point in his career, he has not yet matured physically and is not as strong as Endrick, so he could still develop a lot. That’s what amazes everyone and makes them think that he will reach a much higher level.”
Chelsea may have struck gold with their new signing.
