Enzo Maresca claims he hasn’t spoken to player signed more than a year ago | OneFootball

One of the great curiosities of this Club World Cup is about to take place.

Chelsea signed Estevao Willian over a year ago and left him on loan at Palmeiras until after this tournament.

Chelsea manager says no special plans for Estevao Willian

Estevao Willian celebrates a goal for Palmeiras (Photo by Ricardo Moreira/Getty Images)

So what has inevitably happened? We’ve ended up facing the Brazilian giants, of course. Estevao will play (hopefully) his last game for the Big Green tonight against the Blues, and after that will prepare to join his new team. Enzo Maresca was asked about this in his press conference today and gave a typically humourless answer when asked light-heartedly about whether he had told his players to go in easy on their future teammates:

“When we prepare games, we are used to prepare games thinking about the team, not the players that they are on the other side. And we have done exactly the same in this game. So we prepare the game against Palmeiras, not against Estevao, Maresca explained.

Maresca claims he’s never spoken to player signed more than a year ago

As one of the most exciting talents to join the club in years, it was rather surprising to find out that the teenager hasn’t yet spoke to his future coach:

“I never talk with Estevao since I joined Chelsea,” Maresca explained.

“I met his family at training ground. Nice family, fantastic family. But as I said, we start to talk about the future when this competition is finished. Now is not the moment to talk about the future, Estevao’s future. Everyone knows that this is a talented player, but in this moment he is a Palmeiras player. And we are here to play the game against Palmeiras tomorrow and hopefully we can win.”