Thread by @InvertTheWing

In 2025, 3 talents that have the potential to be the sport's biggest superstars for the next decade will be joining Chelsea.

Estevao Willian, Kendry Paez, and Aaron Anselmino.

— An analysis on each player. Strengths, weaknesses.
— Their best role in Maresca's system. Maximising said strengths, minimising weaknesses.
— Future development plans.

THREAD

2025 will be a terrifying year for the league.

Guardiola's potentially last season, Phase 3 Postecoglou, and the most terrifying of them all?

Maresca's Chelsea with 3 generational talents in the midst.

Can you imagine if Chelsea do go all the way this season, and compete for the title until the very end - how TERRIFYING Phase 2 Maresca would be?

Making an already strong squad with versatile profiles even stronger.

And the most important thing is none of these players are "luxury", they are either signings in the areas Chelsea desperately need, or at the very least unique profiles that Chelsea appreciate.

That is what makes them especially terrifying. This is not like Real Madrid signing Mbappe.

This is like if Manchester City had signed Mohamed Salah after winning the treble.

— Estevao provides Chelsea an immense player in their weakest 2 attacking areas (RW/Right 8).
— Paez provides the same.
— Anselmino also addresses Chelsea's weakest area, centre back depth.

Usually, I will give a bit more of an introduction to the thread, more build-up. But this time, no.

Let me jump right into the juicy stuff, and begin talking about Estevao.

"Messinho".

Simply put, he is a Neymar clone. It is not even his flair, or his skill, or his entertainment value. From a stylistic standpoint, he very much embodies Neymar.

People throw around the term "Neymar regen" for every talent that comes out of Brazil, even when they do not embody them in the slightest.

But Estevao, Estevao is different.

What makes Estevao so stylistically similar to Neymar is how he uses his body, his accelerations and quick bursts of pace to control the ball. It is what makes him such a pain to defend against, and such an effective dribbler.

You never know how to time your tackles, how to close him down, because in a blink of an eye, he could be past you. One minute you're staring at him, the next minute he's made you look like a fool.

His body dexterity, unmatched, and VERY deceptive.

Obviously, it is not dexterity alone that makes him so elite at dribbling - it is the nature of his preicison of control. He's always keeping the ball in close promixity, but not too close.

This allows his strides when running into space he shorter, meaning the ball isn't too far that he has little control of where he wants to go, but the ball is not too close so it affects his mobility.

But this is not what he is limited too, what makes him the most threatening is his ability to go both inside and outside.

This makes him borderline undefendable.

His left foot is absolutely devastating, and that should not be a surprise - and with most players, you can effectively limit them by closing them down, forcing them onto their weaker foot.

But this isn't the case for Estevao.

This again links back to my point about his elite ability to use quick bursts of pace/mini body accelerations, and how that makes him so hard to defend.

He can utilise these accelerations and bursts of pace to power past most defenders to the byline, and fire in a cross from wide, even if they want to show him onto his weaker foot.

Obviously, this is not his strength. But it is something that makes him non one dimensional, and quite unpredictable.

What is his strength, in my opinion, and his best attribute is his shot power. My word, it is out of this world.

The way he is able to generate so much strength and accuracy on his shots with such little backlift is just an absolute gift. And I can't even tell you how he does it, especially with that sort of frame. It is insane.

You cannot give him any space around the box, because he will score. Even the tiniest. From anywhere in that promixity, as long as he is able to access his left foot.

I have to attach clips very carefully to avoid copyright issues, but watch his goal catalogue, and it will be apparent why.

Estevao's biggest, and in my opinion, only "severe" weakness if his physicality/frame, and how he will adapt to the Premier League.

Currently one of the most fouled players Per 90 in the Brazillian Serie A, 90th percentile.

Which isn't necessarily the biggest issue, but Premier League in particular are much harsher with fouls, and looks to allow games to flow. Estevao's frame and build is quite weak, and you combine these 2 factors, and it may be a frustrating watch.

Perform a moment of brilliant, beat a man, about to beat the next man, lose the ball due to a difference in physicality, try claim a foul, referee refuses, game continues. Repeat.

But this is absolute worst case - best case, these fouls translate, and you have plenty of set piece opportunities (situations Estevao also excels at, and of course, Palmer too).

And the final point I want to get into is creativity, Estevao's creativity.

I am not going to sit here and lie and say he is some sort of Lionel Messi-esque creator to please Chelsea fans, no.

But he is still very, very good creatively. He is someone who creates via his dribbling, he can drive into areas to set players up on a plate with his elite skills, quick 1-2s, and again, those bursts of pace to play a cutback.

He also is very good at threading through precise balls for other players running through the channels.

But I think his creativity all stems from fast action, quick thinking scenarios. When he is running at players, as opposed to slow and intricate build-up. He lacks the vision of someone like Palmer to constantly find those passes when opponents are focused on compactness/shape.

He thrives creatively when he can create distractions.

And this brings me to the big question, what is Estevao's best role in this system?

And for me, it is a no brainer. A typical Maresca touchline winger.

With a Maresca advanced 8, you want someone who can maximise their ability in half spaces. Someone who can create, facilitate from deep, and more importantly, attack space both in and out of possession.

This isn't to say Estevao can't do that, but when you look at the player he competes with, Cole Palmer, he is inferior at all those attributes for a central role.

However, conversely, Estevao is superior at most attributes you want from a Maresca touchline player compared to Palmer. Dynamism, holding width, and beating their man (again, not to say Palmer is poor at this).

What sets Estevao apart from Palmer in that touchline role is comparatively how much more comfortable he is going outside than Palmer.

Again, not to say Palmer struggles going outside, but Estevao's better body dexterity, acceleration, etc. makes him much more difficult to defend against when going outside, compared to Palmer.

Estevao is a player who thrives more when he has the ball to his feet, rather than off it. When he is deployed as a touchline winger, he's playing in much less congested areas, he will receive the ball MUCH more, and have the ability to run at his man with a bit more freedom. This is not the case playing centrally, where it is much more congested.

On the flip side, Maresca's 8s need to understand the art of off the ball movement, being able to attack the box when necessary. Whilst Estevao's off the ball movement has seen a significant upturn this season, it still has a long way to go before being able to match someone's Palmer.

Lot of responsibiltiy to be constantly making shadow runs into the box, attacking the final 3rd off the ball, and there is no better insinctive player for that role than Cole Palmer.

Even physicality is a point I have not touched on, the midfield particularly in an inverted fullback system, is the most congested part of the field. This is where the most duels will take place, the most battles.

Estevao, for now, still has a long way to go before being physically capable to contest.

With Cole Palmer, this is not the case. Strong frame, height, robustness.

The final thing that makes Palmer more suitable for the central role is quite the obvious one, and that's creativity.

Estevao, creative in a self-sufficient sense. He does not necessarily have the passing range of Palmer, and relies on creating separation via dribbling to create. Thrives in fast paced situations, creative when he is able to run at players. But Palmer simply excels creatively in any situation.

Much more varied passing arsenal, much better vision, and generally a better technique/weight of pass (albeit Estevao's still very good, especially threaded ones).

Again, this is not to say this is someone who won't thrive centrally, it just doesn't make much sense when you look at the skilsets of both Palmer and Estevao.

Whilst Estevao is capable in tight areas, he is someone who is a brilliant "space eater", and he will see much more of that on the wing. Similarly, Estevao lacks the off the ball box instincts of Palmer, something that is quite necessary for a Maresca 8. Creatively he is also a bit limited, relative to Palmer, and someone who's best creative moments come from nearer the Final 3rd.

Flip side, Palmer, whilst capable, lacks the dexterity/acceleration of someone like Estevao to consistently beat their man, and more particularly, go outside and fire in weak foot crosses whilst the opponents shape is disrupted.

But at the end of the day - there is a lot of room for fluidity. Obviously, Estevao's strength is still cutting inside, and finding those shots around the edge of the box, and generating immense backlift. The half spaces.

Cole Palmer also thrives in those half spaces.

So what is stopping them clogging each other's areas? You are right, nothing. It is a potential issue. But it is an issue that can be coached out by strict positional play, or team understanding.

Either forcing Estevao very wide (in which you limit him severely), or eventually having Palmer and Estevao develop an understanding of each other's game, to know when to provide under/overlaps.

Or the simpler answer - Reece James overlaps, allows Palmer to drift inside even more centrally, then Estevao more license to attack the half space.

But Chelsea have another player who occupies similar zones - Kendry Paez? What about him? We will get into that. But on a surface level, Paez is a bit more varied in the zones he can operate in effectively.

Particularly for Ecuador, he sometimes has been deployed as a Left 8 - and in this Chelsea system, I think that is his best position. And I will get into it why.

Paez's best strength, for me, is his close control. How he is able to so effortlessly hold onto the ball, it is like glue.

I also talked about Estevao's close control, and how combined with his acceleration, makes him proficient 1v1.

But Paez is a little bit different, his close control is MUCH closer. This makes him less efficient in 1v1 situations, as it gives him less control in manouvering the ball into space, and around the opponent, but it also makes him a better dribbler in tighter, congested areas.

This makes him incredibly, incredibly press resistant. He is brilliant at drawing bodies towards him, and baiting them out, taking them out of the equation, and creating space.

He is completely unphased by aggressive press, challenges, and manages to shrug them off, and come out with the ball. Very calm.

Also makes him a brilliant transitional medium. Able to receive the ball in deeper areas, withstand pressure, and come out on top whilst progressing the ball into the Final 3rd.

This is able to create a lot of space for not only Paez to attack, but others as well. Drags out a lot of bodies.

And in my opinion, the best part of Paez's game is how he is able to utilise this sort of space creation and press resistance.

He baits bodies towards him, creates pitch imbalance, and is able to spread the ball. This is by far the most intelligent part of the game, and something that is lacking from modern footballers.

Constant spreading of play.

Everybody wants to play the through balls, the backheels, the crosses, but so rarely spread the pitch - it is why I am such a big fan of Cole Palmer.

Paez has a very good deep passing range. He excels in those diagonals and switches, crosses, and in general just long range balls.

Once again, this makes him the perfect "middle zone" player, he is able to PERFECTLY link play - and I hope you can see where I am going with this, but I will save it for the end.

Furthermore, Paez is able to attack space very well after baiting these bodies/withstanding pressure, if he opts to utilise this himself. Not just via long passes.

Unlike Estevao, I think he is has sufficient physicality to play in the Premier League, and he's able to shrug off challenges easier. This makes him a bit more deadly in transition/open space, he can churn up physical defenders/midfielders a bit better, and run past them into dangerous area.

Much like Estevao, Paez also has an absolute lethal shooting range, particularly from outside the box. No, I do not think it is as strong as Estevao's, because he is slightly more limited (i.e cannot generate backlift as easily, needs a bit more space), but he is still very threatening around the edge of the box.

Large reason why he can be so effective in transition - has the strength, space eating prowess, shooting accuracy, and shot power to pose a scoring threat from afar, before bodies can close him down.

And this is where I am going to profile him. He is everything people think Enzo Fernandez is, or wanted to be, with significantly more mobility and physicality.

He is not a 6, not a 10, but in this system, a secondary 8. The deepest 8.

Every single one of his strengths translates to him being an 8. Not a 10, but the deepest 8. And I think Paez's success will depend on Maresca profiling him perfectly.

He is the transitional link Chelsea need. His ability in those tight spaces, his ability to find those touchline wingers in acres of space with his long range passes, and his transition prowess, quick thinking would elevate Chelsea to a new level.

We've seen Maresca play Palmer very deep to try play a similar role. Receive the ball in bewteen the defensive and midfield lines, spread play, be more involved in deeper build up. And oftentimes, Palmer is very limited in this role.

That is where Paez comes in. He plays the Left Sided 8, the deepest 8, whilst Palmer does what he does best. Playing Left 8 provides him favourable angles to be able to spread the ball/spread the pitch, and if you look at how Palmer was deployed vs. Arsenal - Paez can be deployed a similar, more effective way, because his attributes suit the role MUCH better.

Of course, there are concerns about balance. Caicedo will have a lot to do defensively. But Maresca has spoken about wanting both Palmer and Felix to play centrally in the pockets, so it is not like he is against this idea/progression.

Paez I think will have no issue adapting to the physicality of the league, and he is always quite aggressive in the duels/press, I think he can very much nail down that deep 8 role.

But to perfect it, Chelsea need a slightly more physical left back to invert out of possession - to provide them further security in transition, and help cover that side. Cucurella is brilliant, and I don't think this is necessarily an upgrade to do with lack of quality, but to aid physicality in setups like this.

Murillo is your man. Yes, he plays as a centre back, but is definitely both technically and physically capable of playing this role. Alongside the introduction of Paez and Estevao, Murillo really completes this dynamic.

The final man I wlil talk about is Aaron Anselmino. Wow. I think this is such an underrated prospect, and I feel there is little to talk about centre backs in general (less profilling "fun"). But this is the profile Chelsea have been crying out for, and he will surprise a lot of people.

In fact, I am more confident on Anselmino adapting to the league than I am both Paez and Estevao. It is not necessarily to do with talent, but compared to Estevao, he is naturally more physical, and compared to Paez, he fits in more seemlessly.

At least in the first 2 seasons, he will have the easiest transition.

What Anselmino offers is what complements Levi Colwill perfectly. Someone with brilliant pace, balanced aggression, and much more awareness/discipline than Wesley Fofana.

Albeit not as fast as Fofana, part of what makes Fofana so integral to Maresca's system is his ability to defend transitions with his rapid recovery pace. No one else in the squad can replace this, and it is by far the weakest aspect.

Fofana outside of this has some questionable attributes, such as recognising when to commit, and dealing with press.

Anselmino provides the strengths of Fofana, with added awareness, calmness, and intelligence overall. Much more physical, and even mature.

I'm a big fan, and I like Fofana as well - but he definitely needs competition.

Anselmino provides EXACTLY that. Capable aerially, on the ball, and as a box defender/highest defender. Very versatile.

His potential as a centre back, unreal.