‘After I signed for Chelsea, Cole Palmer’s celebration came to mind. Then Palmer saw that and messaged me, saying he couldn’t wait for us to play together’ Chelsea new boy Estevao on his Stamford Bridge welcoming committee

Chelsea new boy Estevao made his Stamford Bridge debut on the opening weekend of the new Premier League season when he came on as a second-half substitute against Crystal Palace.

This came a year after the club struck a deal to bring the Brazilian teenager to the Premier League and following a goal 18 minutes into his pre-season debut against Bayern Leverkusen.

Blues fans will hope that the five-time Brazilian cap will settle quickly in west London, and it’s already clear that the youngster is integrating himself with his new team-mates.

Estevao on his early Cole Palmer bond

Estevao was quick to exchange DMs with Cole Palmer after his transfer was confirmed and then days later he celebrated a goal in Palmeiras’ 3-1 win over Juventude by borrowing the England star’s ‘cold’ pose.

“After I signed for Chelsea, that celebration came to mind,” he tells FourFourTwo. “Then Palmer saw that and messaged me, saying he couldn’t wait for us to play together. It was in British English – a bit tricky for me – so I had to get some help from the translator app! I’m not going to lie, I used it to message him back, too!”

Palmer would again check in with his new team-mate to see if he would visit the club before linking up with the team in the summer.

“I didn’t get the chance,” he says. “But it meant a lot. You could tell they were excited I was coming and they were already waiting for me.”

As fate would have it, Estevao’s last game for Palmeiras would be against Chelsea, in the quarter-finals of the Club World Cup. While his old side would lose 2-1 to the eventual tournament winners, he would score and grab the player of the match award.

“Of course, I know I’ll need to build a stronger, more intense physical presence at some point, but I’m not overly worried about it,” he says.

“There will be a thorough process to achieve that, but I know what I bring to the pitch, my qualities, my ability to influence a game.

“Strength isn’t always the deciding factor. I really believe in my potential.”

For more than a decade, Joe Mewis has worked in football journalism as a reporter and editor. Mewis has had stints at Mirror Football and LeedsLive among others and worked at FourFourTwo throughout Euro 2024, reporting on the tournament. In addition to his journalist work, Mewis is also the author of four football history books that include times on Leeds United and the England national team. Now working as a digital marketing coordinator at Harrogate Town, too, Mewis counts some of his best career moments as being in the iconic Spygate press conference under Marcelo Bielsa and seeing his beloved Leeds lift the Championship trophy during lockdown.