Chelsea have new Eden Hazard repeat fear after crushing moment with £51m transfer confirmed

Since Chelsea signed teenage superstar Estevao Willian, he has already played seven matches for Palmeiras. That was less than one month ago (June 22).

During the same period, he has started back-to-back matches as a 17-year-old in a senior league with less than three days between games on three occasions. Despite his form on the pitch (five goals, four assists, and some stunning moments in the past 11 games), he is yet to complete a full 90 minutes in the Brazilian Serie A.

On Thursday, he was forced off with an injury. 1-0 down with 10 minutes to go, he was on the receiving end of yet another strong tackle and went down holding his ankle.

Estevao was helped off the field by a physio, hobbling badly with his right foot having been hurt. He appeared to not only feel the impact of the challenge, which came in late after he had nudged the ball ahead of his opponent, but also the fall and landing left him in an awkward position as well.

For Chelsea, it poses several warnings, though. Estevao is still around 10 months away from joining up with the club in the summer of 2025, by which time he will be 18. In the following season, he will be central to Palmeiras’ plans, especially with a current title right going on in Brazil.

Not only is Estevao a key member of their side, so he will warrant plenty of game time, but Chelsea also want him to continue developing, so they will hope for ample minutes as well. There is also a financial aspect here.

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It is believed that Palmeiras could stand to earn another £5million on top of the fixed £28million fee so far should Estevao play enough in the coming year. In total, the deal could cost Chelsea as much as £51million to get the attacker if all add-ons are met.

Palmeiras certainly have the motivation, sportingly and monetarily, to get Estevao on the pitch as much as possible. This raises concern for Chelsea, even if they want to see their man grow.

The amount of minutes played by youngsters in the modern game is increasing, and struggles for Ousmane Dembele, but more recently, Barcelona’s Pedri, to overcome an initial load have shown the pitfalls. Bukayo Saka at Arsenal is another prime example, although he has so far remained largely durable and resilient. Towards each of the last two seasons, he has started to look extremely jaded, though.

Chelsea know they will have to manage Estevao carefully both when he arrives in London and possibly even before that. In order to ensure that he joins in the best shape possible.

It was only earlier this month that Bahia manager Rogerio Ceni made it clear just how things can escalate with Estevao. “There’s no way you can mark this guy,” he said after the match. “You can’t stop him.” Can’t stop him? Foul him. That has been the mode of defence so far when coming up against the winger, and whilst it is a compliment in some ways, there are often physical ramifications either immediately or down the line.

Perhaps the best example of a player who was consistently targeted but managed to come out on the other side is none other than Eden Hazard. He was dominating Ligue 1 in France before moving to Chelsea in 2012. Hazard took Lille to the French title with an outstanding individual season and went on to get kicked for years in England.

Hazard thrived on the attention he got from other teams, though, and his body never let him down at Stamford Bridge. It wasn’t until a broken bone in his foot shortly after joining Real Madrid that things derailed for the now-retired Belgian.

There is a lesson in this as well. Hazard played through bloody socks and painful ankles and loved to jinx away from challenges despite the potential harm. There is certainly a way to go for Estevao to get anywhere near this level, but it can only take one tackle to send things spiralling.

Chelsea will be keen to protect Estevao with this in mind but also to prepare him for the often harsh reality of Premier League football. For now, they will be hoping more than anything that he is fine to continue in South America sooner rather than later.