5 months ago
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Former Arsenal star Julio Baptista has congratulated Chelsea on the signing of Estevao Willian.
The teenager underwent a medical earlier this week and is now on the brink of being confirmed as a Chelsea player in a deal initially worth £29.5million.
Nicknamed ‘Little Messi’, the Palmeiras forward will become the most expensive transfer involving a South American teenager in history should Chelsea ultimately end up pay the full £51m fee.
Todd Boehly and his fellow key Chelsea decision makers have focused a large part of their transfer strategy on recruiting young players from South America.
The signings of Andrey Santos, Deivid Washington, Angelo and Kendry Paez have already been secured, but Baptista believes Willian will end up being the jewel in the crown.
‘Estevao Willian is an incredible talent coming out of Brazil but I don’t like him being compared to a player like Lionel Messi,’ he told Oddspedia.
‘The talent coming out of Brazil is incredible but the expectation can weigh on them a little bit.
‘But he can become an incredible player and is a great signing for Chelsea.’
This summer’s Copa America has come too soon for Willian, but his soon to be former Palmeiras teammate Ednrick, who has already signed for Real Madrid, will be hoping to make a significant impact.
‘If he plays then Endrick could be a star at Copa America, but I think that Vinicius Junior will do more for the Brazilian team,’ added Baptista.
‘You can also look at Rodrygo, but I think Vinicius needs to do more for the national team. Hopefully now he can show his potential and his talent.
‘Endrick has an incredible future but we need to be patient with him because he is under a lot of pressure and expectation because of what he has done so far.
‘Real Madrid need to be patient with him, like they were with Vinicius Junior. There is so much young talent coming out of Brazil but that does lead to comparisons.
‘He can become an incredible player and be like Ronaldo but he has to make his own career. But he is an incredible acquisition for Real Madrid because he is already an incredible player.’
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