The international break is often met with groans across the Premier League, and for Chelsea, who are still grinning after their last-minute win against Liverpool last weekend, they might have wished to carry that form right over to the coming weeks.
However, the injury update on the Cole Palmer front has only added to the frustration, with the Blues talisman’s injury set to rule him out for another month, carrying into November. It’s worth we are merely 28 days away from the final international sojourn of the 2025 calendar.
But Enzo Maresca is fashioning a team of many parts, and Chelsea are no longer a one-trick pony. Signings have been made, and many have shown promising signs over the past several months.
Among them, Joao Pedro, who looks like a real star in the final third for the Londoners.
Joao Pedro's start to life at Chelsea
Pedro looked set for a move to Newcastle United this summer, but then Chelsea swept in and signed the Brazilian for £60m, ending his two-year stay on the south coast with Brighton & Hove Albion.
The 24-year-old is a versatile and hard-working forward who has been praised in the past as an “insane dribbler” by analyst Ben Mattinson. Sofascore note that he’s yet to miss a big chance in the Premier League, so everything’s there to suggest BlueCo have made a fine signing with this one.
With two goals and three assists from nine matches in all competitions this season, Pedro is settling nicely into Maresca’s system; though he will be eager to return to prolific form, having blanked across his past five games in all competitions.
Still, he’s playing well, and considering some of the figures thrown about this summer, with Liverpool breaking the British transfer record to sign Alexander Isak for £125m, this is actually a shrewd piece of business.
However, the Stamford Bridge side sealed a signature this summer who might be shrewder still.
Chelsea's jackpot signing
Many signings have been made at Chelsea since Todd Boehly first took a seat in the boardroom, but the initial £29m paid for Estevao Willian might be the pick of the big bunch.
He tapped home Chelsea’s winner against Liverpool on Sunday, and he oozes confidence and style when on the ball, 18 years old but at peace with the rigours and scrutiny of the Premier League.
Already at this nascent stage of his career, Estevao has cultivated a wealth of experience on the senior stage, and there’s a prolificness to his play that tells of a successful future at the highest level.
Right winger
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Attacking midfield
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Centre-forward
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After all, the aforementioned Mattinson has provided his take, saying the Brazil international might even be a “future Ballon d’Or winner”, such is his quality.
For Brazil, he is performing at a prodigious rate. Only yesterday across the globe did he bag twice as Carlo Ancelotti’s Seleção side thrashed South Korea 5-0.
Given the potential growth both financially and on the field, Chelsea chiefs must be delighted that they won the race, especially since Chelsea beat off vested competition from Barcelona and Real Madrid to seal the youth’s signature in 2024, ahead of his arrival from Palmeiras several months ago.
Is the sky the limit? It might just be. Estevao is the real deal; he has scored and assisted in the Premier League already.
In hindsight, this might prove to be the signing of the summer. Liverpool landed a world-class striker in Isak, but they paid a staggering sum. Isak, 26, has yet to get going at Anfield, one goal and one assist across six games.
Estevao matches that, and he’s playing with verve and gusto. He’s playing like the superstar in the making that Chelsea know they have landed.
