Estevao needed only 20 minutes to show what he can offer Chelsea in attack. Sent on in the closing stages of their 2-1 defeat to Arsenal, the Brazilian cut in from the right and curled an effort towards the top corner, forcing David Raya to tip it over in the 89th minute.
It was Chelsea's best chance of the afternoon and came from a player who has barely featured this season. Ian Wright, working for Sky Sports Premier League, admitted afterwards: "I was a bit more worried and afraid when Estevao came on the pitch."
His brief cameo highlighted the difference he can make, but there are clear reasons why Xabi Alonso has been reluctant to start him.
The Problem Is Not Estevao's Ability, It Is Where Alonso Needs Him To Play
Three matches into his Chelsea tenure, Alonso has settled on a 3-4-2-1 shape built around two attacking midfielders behind Joao Pedro. Cole Palmer occupies one of those roles, with the freedom to drift through the middle as Chelsea's main creative outlet.
Morgan Rogers occupies the other, having arrived from Aston Villa in July for £117m, a British transfer record that made him the most expensive English player in history. Chelsea agreed to that fee within 48 hours of England's World Cup semi-final defeat.
Rogers was signed to start, and he has done exactly that. That leaves Estevao competing for a central role instead of his preferred position out wide.
He and Palmer are both left-footed forwards who like to receive in the same right-sided areas, meaning Estevao is not simply competing with Palmer for a place in the team. They occupy much of the same space on the pitch.
Since Alonso's first game in charge, Estevao has made three appearances: a seven-minute cameo against Fulham, an unused substitute against Brighton and a late appearance against Arsenal after Rogers had tired.
His only start came in a heavily rotated League Cup tie against Luton Town, where he still provided the assist for Chelsea's second goal.
Why The Alternative Route, Through Neto's Position, Isn't A Simple Fix Either
The obvious next question is whether Estevao could instead compete with Pedro Neto on the right. He could, but the role itself has changed under Alonso. At Bayer Leverkusen, Alonso's wing-backs were not conventional full-backs who were asked to defend first.
Jeremie Frimpong and Alejandro Grimaldo played more like auxiliary wingers, pushing forward constantly while the back three and double pivot provided cover behind them.
Replicating that at Chelsea requires wing-backs who can attack with Frimpong's intensity and still drop into a back five when possession is lost.
Neto is a naturally attacking winger being asked to play in that shape, instead of as a specialist wing-back, and reports around Estevao's camp suggest he is wary of being used in the same way.
ESPN Brasil's Renato Senise reported that there are concerns that adding the muscle needed for a wing-back's running demands could affect the low centre of gravity and close control that make Estevao so effective.
Wingers who rely on quick bursts and close control are not necessarily suited to covering the length of the pitch throughout a game. Using Estevao as a Frimpong-style wing-back would therefore bring physical demands that could affect the qualities that make him dangerous.
What Chelsea's Own Tactical History Suggests Could Change This
There is another part of Estevao's situation that reports of his frustration tend to miss: Alonso has already shown he will abandon his favoured back three when his squad does not suit it.
When Alonso moved from Leverkusen to Real Madrid, he did not force the same 3-4-2-1 onto a squad built differently. He switched to a back four, generally using a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 because those systems suited the players available to him.
Chelsea's current squad presents a similar situation, with Neto more comfortable as a winger than a wing-back and Estevao reluctant to make the same switch. A back four would not solve everything.
Palmer and Rogers would presumably still occupy the two most advanced attacking roles in a 4-2-3-1, since neither has done enough to lose their place.
But it would remove the defensive demands on Chelsea's right side that currently make Estevao's most likely route into the team one he does not favour. It would also give Alonso more freedom to rotate his attacking players.
The Realistic Outlook For Estevao Over The Coming Months
Estevao's case for more time is stronger than a season of substitute appearances suggests. He scored a stoppage-time winner against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge last October and was on the scoresheet against Barcelona a month later.
He is also still building his fitness after a significant muscle injury that ruled him out for the closing weeks of last season and the 2026 World Cup.
That disrupted his preparation for the new campaign and has made his adjustment to Alonso more difficult. Chelsea, meanwhile, signed him from Palmeiras in 2025 on a contract running until 2033.
That long-term deal suggests the club still sees him as an important part of its plans.
In the short term, Estevao is likely to continue getting opportunities like the one against Arsenal: minutes off the bench, with the job of changing games and not starting them.
It is not the role Chelsea would have envisaged when they signed him, but he has already shown he can make an impact from the bench. A change in his situation is more likely to come from Alonso changing the system than from another player losing his place.
Until then, Estevao's best way to earn more minutes is simple: keep making an impact when he gets the chance, just as he did with that late effort against Arsenal.
