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How Estevao, the boy with pure Brazilian DNA, became the new darling of Chelsea

In Franca, a city in the northeastern part of the state of São Paulo better known for basketball and leather shoe factories, a three-year-old boy once begged to join a football training session that was not meant for him.

The football school his family approached only accepted children from five years old, but its owner and coach, a former Francana midfielder known locally as Serginho Carioca, made an exception because he knew the boy’s father, Ivo Gonçalves, a former goalkeeper for the same club.

Even then, Estêvão Willian was telling stories his words could not. “He was so tiny the ball looked bigger than him,” Carioca, the coach who first took him in, says with a laugh. “But when he touched it, you could tell immediately that this was something special. He was born with it. From the first warm-up, his ball control, his balance, and his finishing. All different. A rare jewel.”

That decision marked the beginning of the rise of one of Brazilian football’s brightest prospects of this century. It was a journey that, 14 years later, would lead Chelsea to spend up to £52m on a teenager capable of lifting their fans from their seats every time he touches the ball. On Tuesday night, the 18-year-old scored the kind of individual goal that led to him being likened to Ronaldinho or Lionel Messi during Chelsea’s statement 3-0 win over Barcelona at Stamford Bridge.

Estevao

Estevao has won the heart and minds of Chelsea fans having scored against Liverpool, Bracelona and Ajax - Getty Images/Catherine Ivill

Estêvão’s effortless control, honed through countless evenings training with his father until darkness fell and also from playing against boys older and stronger than himself, remains the essence of his game. It is artistry fused with fearlessness.

Before long, the youngster dazzling for Tok de Bola was drawing crowds eager to watch him dribble rings around opponents from neighbouring towns. “Even though he always played in teams above his age, he was head and shoulders above everyone else on the pitch,” recalls Carioca with pride. “The directors of Francana, our local club in the state’s lower divisions, even asked for Estêvão’s team to play the curtain-raisers before their first-team matches. He’d become such a local attraction that his presence alone boosted the gate.”

In 2014, a six-year-old Estêvão featured in the Tok de Bola sticker album.

In 2014, a six-year-old Estêvão featured in the Tok de Bola sticker album

At the 2014 Copa Difusora, a regional tournament organised by a local radio station, Estêvão once again stole the show – though not everyone was thrilled about it. “Parents of boys on the other teams would shout from the stands, ‘Take him off, Serginho! Playing Estêvão is cheating, it’s not fair!’” recalls Carioca, chuckling. To keep matches competitive, he often substituted the youngster after he’d scored two or three goals. “But then his father would come to me and say, ‘He wants to be top scorer.’ So, I had to manage it carefully, making sure the games stayed balanced while still encouraging Estêvão’s hunger to reach his goals.”

That competitiveness was matched by a quiet humility. “He was a very polite, shy boy,” says his first coach. “Always listened carefully, always wanted to perfect every touch. His family was deeply united, and his parents were always there. You can see it in him today, he’s still grounded, still a family boy.”

Estêvão took part in the Copa Difusora alongside his first coach, Serginho Carioca, pictured on the far right

Estêvão (centre, second row) took part in the Copa Difusora alongside his first coach, Serginho Carioca, pictured on the far right

It did not take long for word to spread beyond Franca. In a close-knit, family-oriented city where he knew almost every parent, Tok de Bola’s owner began to notice unfamiliar faces turning up whenever Estêvão played. Before long, he discovered that Santos – famed for producing stars such as Neymar, the boy’s childhood idol – had sent a scout to watch him. Yet it was Cruzeiro who acted quickest, signing the eight-year-old after creating an entire under-nine futsal team just to ensure they did not lose the chance to secure such a prodigious talent.

To help Estêvão pursue his dream, his family relocated with him to Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, around 230 miles from Franca. Raised in a deeply religious household, he shares a particularly close bond with his father, an evangelical pastor, his mother, Hetiene, a homemaker, and his younger sister, Esther, to whom he is especially devoted.

Within two years, Estêvão had signed with Nike and become one of the most talked-about youngsters in Brazilian football. The partnership began in 2016, after he dazzled at the Go Cup – one of the country’s leading youth tournaments – while representing Cruzeiro. His elegant left foot and the No 10 on his back quickly drew comparisons with Lionel Messi, earning him the nickname Messinho, or “Little Messi”. Yet neither Estêvão nor his family ever embraced the label. They felt it added unnecessary pressure and preferred to let his talent speak for itself.

When Estêvão turned 14, the turmoil at Cruzeiro would soon reshape his path. The club collapsed under debt and scandal, eventually losing their academy certification. João Paulo Sampaio, Palmeiras’ academy chief and one of Brazil’s shrewdest judges of young talent, had stayed in touch with Ivo since their days in Franca, when he had first invited the family to visit the facilities that had produced Gabriel Jesus and, more recently, Endrick. This time, Ivo took his son to São Paulo.

João Paulo Sampaio pictured with Estêvão, alongside Luis Guilherme, now at West Ham, and Endrick of Real Madrid

“We are Brazil’s leading academy because we focus on forming individuals first,” Sampaio says. “The player must solve problems, not execute orders. It’s the street football spirit inside a professional structure.”

Estevão thrived in that environment. By 15, he was training with the under-20s. His defining moment came in the under-17 national final, a 3-0 win over São Paulo in which he scored a hat-trick. “He’s got pure Brazilian DNA: flair, joy, but always productivity. He breaks defensive lines. He’s irreverent, but efficient.” He also plays through pain. Sampaio remembers a national semi-final against Grêmio. “He had a broken toe,” he says. “At half-time, the doctor was giving him injections, he was crying and saying, ‘I’m not leaving the pitch’. That’s Estevão. The will to compete.”

In December 2023, Estêvão came off the bench at the Mineirão to make his professional debut at just 16 years and eight months, as Palmeiras sealed back-to-back league titles with a 1-1 draw against Cruzeiro. Abel Ferreira, the club’s Portuguese coach and one of Brazil’s most successful managers of the century – with 10 trophies in five years – describes him as “different from everything I’ve ever seen”. Six months later, Chelsea moved for the teenage sensation in a deal that could become the most expensive transfer ever completed by a Brazilian club: £38m up front, potentially rising to £52m with add-ons.

Fast forward three months to September last year, when he earned his first cap for Brazil, coming on as a substitute in a 1-0 home win over Ecuador in World Cup qualifying. At 17 years and 135 days old, he became the fifth-youngest player ever to wear the famous yellow shirt – behind only Endrick, Pelé’s former team-mates Coutinho and Edu, and Pelé himself. Since Carlo Ancelotti took charge in May, he has included the Chelsea teenager in all three squads he has named so far.

Estêvão in possession of the ball for Brazil

Estêvão has been named in all three of Carlo Ancelotti’s Brazil squads since the Italian took charge in May - Getty Images/Han Myung-Gu

Precocious by nature, Estêvão announced himself to Chelsea this past summer, scoring for Palmeiras against them in the Club World Cup quarter-finals – a 2-1 win for the Londoners before they went on to lift the trophy. Just over two months into the season, he has quickly won hearts at Stamford Bridge. He has done that not only with his match-winning display against Premier League champions Liverpool, nor for making history against Ajax as Chelsea’s youngest-ever scorer in the Champions League.

No, he has done it through the same qualities that first captivated those watching in Franca: joy, audacity and a maturity beyond his years. The boy who once begged to play with older kids now shines on football’s grandest stage.

A version of this article was originally published on November 1, 2025

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