Chelsea: Marc Cucurella issues Estevao verdict after young winger's star showing in win over West Ham | OneFootball

Chelsea: Marc Cucurella issues Estevao verdict after young winger's star showing in win over West Ham | OneFootball

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Evening Standard

·23 de agosto de 2025

Chelsea: Marc Cucurella issues Estevao verdict after young winger's star showing in win over West Ham

Imagem do artigo:Chelsea: Marc Cucurella issues Estevao verdict after young winger's star showing in win over West Ham

Young starlet was thrown into the starting XI on Friday night

Imagem do artigo:Chelsea: Marc Cucurella issues Estevao verdict after young winger's star showing in win over West Ham

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Marc Cucurella insists Estevao is already “very mature” but can still “improve a lot”.

The Brazilian teenager was set to start as a substitute against West Ham on Friday night but was drafted into Chelsea’s starting line-up minutes before kick-off after Cole Palmer pulled up in the pre-match warm-up.

Estevao was partly at fault for Lucas Paqueta’s opening goal for West Ham but recovered to become the youngest player to register a Premier League assist for Chelsea, at just 18 years and 120 days old.

The Brazil international made his debut off the bench in last Sunday’s 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace and impressed again as Chelsea thrashed West Ham 5-1 at the London Stadium.

“Today he showed that he is very mature,” Cucurella told reporters. “He is very young. In theory, he started on the bench. Then in five minutes he needed to get ready.

“He needs to continue to learn and listen to tactics and everything. He had an amazing game. He had the opportunity to score at the end, but he has a lot of quality. He can improve a lot, and hopefully he can continue in this way.

“In the last game at home [to Palace], we created a lot of chances but were not very accurate. Today we scored five goals. Five different players scored, so I think this shows that we are very ambitious and have a lot of quality.”

Manager Enzo Maresca changed things up in his line-up even before Palmer was ruled out, selecting Liam Delap up front and using Joao Pedro as more of a No10.

“I think the good thing we have is that every week we try something new in training and in matches,” said Cucurella. “The manager always tries to do something new to surprise the opposition.

“Today, we played with the two strikers, Joao Pedro playing as a No10. I think it was really good. His performance was amazing. We know the impact he had in the Club World Cup. Hopefully he can continue in this way because he’s a top player as well.

“We have good new players that bring a lot of energy and a lot of quality. We need to continue in the way that we finished last season.

Cucurella registered an assist and produced another top performance for Chelsea before being rested on 69 minutes as he made way for debutant Jorrel Hato, who signed for an initial £37million from Ajax earlier this month.

“Hato made his debut and I’m very happy for him,” Cucurella said. “He’s a very good player. Hopefully I can help him in his adaptation here.”

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