Est\u00eav\u00e3o\u2019s place in Xabi Alonso\u2019s plans appears secure in theory, but the evidence on the pitch has told a different story. The Brazilian youngster has found minutes hard to come by in a system built around a back three and wingbacks, which has left little space for wide forwards. He was even left on the bench when Chelsea exited the Carabao Cup on penalties to Liverpool last month.<\/p>\n
There was a reminder of what he can offer when Alonso shifted to a 4-2-3-1 for the recent win over Manchester United. Est\u00eav\u00e3o started on the right and produced a strong display. Yet that momentum did not last, with another formation change ahead of the defeat to Sunderland before the international break sending him back to the bench.<\/p>\n
BBC Sport reported in September that Est\u00eav\u00e3o was among a small group of \u201cuntouchable\u201d Chelsea players, alongside Mois\u00e9s Caicedo, Cole Palmer and Jo\u00e3o Pedro. Even so, a player of his ability, and one who has long attracted attention, could eventually begin to look elsewhere if the current situation does not improve.<\/p>\n
If that point arrives, several destinations could enter the picture.<\/p>\n
Paris Saint-Germain remain a logical name in any discussion of elite attacking talent, particularly after their summer reshuffle. But with Lee Kang-in, Bradley Barcola and Gon\u00e7alo Ramos already moved on, and with Maghnes Akliouche, Ferran Torres and Mika Godts arriving, they are more likely to trust their current options. They have also been hit by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia\u2019s ACL tear, though Luis Enrique still has plenty to work with.<\/p>\n
Liverpool is another obvious possibility. After Mohamed Salah\u2019s departure in the summer, Andoni Iraola has used Bradley Barcola, Cody Gakpo and Rio Ngumoha on the right wing, but that position may still need greater certainty. A Chelsea sale to a Premier League rival would be difficult to imagine, yet the financial logic is there.<\/p>\n
Borussia Dortmund, meanwhile, would make sense only if the situation worsened and Chelsea agreed to a loan in January. They may not be as imposing as they once were, but the club still has a reputation for developing talent. Est\u00eav\u00e3o may not be the ideal Niko Kova\u0107 wide player, but Dortmund would be one to watch if temporary respite becomes the next step.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Est\u00eav\u00e3o is short of minutes at Chelsea, and several major clubs could enter the picture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22362,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1523,190,175],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-borussia-dortmund","category-chelsea","category-liverpool"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}