Inside Enzo Maresca's Cole Palmer tactic to get the best out of Estevao at Chelsea

Enzo Maresca has been speaking about Estevao Willian and his long-term position at Chelsea but that creates somewhat of a dilemma for the head coach in the form of Cole Palmer

There are certainly several similarities between Estevao Willian and Cole Palmer. Two left-footed attackers, who love to cut in on their favoured foot, both immense at dribbling, and the two of them are born entertainers.

While it feels a tad ridiculous to say Estevao could be the "next Cole Palmer" given Palmer himself is 23, Chelsea are hoping for a similar impact. Estevao is an 18-year-old who is still adapting to a new country and arguably the toughest league in the world. Yet he has made the adaptation look incredibly straightforward. The physicality does not seem to be an issue despite the Brazil international's small frame - in fact, he seems to relish when a defender gets aggressive and tight on him.

Enzo Maresca, who described himself as fortunate to manage both Palmer and Estevao, sees similarities between the two. "It's exciting to see him," Maresca said to TNT Sports. "The good thing about Estevao, sometimes with young players we are worried, because they have one good game and they think they are already [at the] top.

"Estevao, he's playing well, but he's polite, he's humble, he wants to learn. I think his family are also doing a big job there, so we are very happy not only with the way he's performing, but he's a nice boy, a good boy."

"In the Premier League, he needs a little bit more time," the Chelsea head coach continued on Estevao. "I think he's more [of a] winger, but he's going to finish playing inside the pitch, in the pockets.

"For me, it's very, very similar to Cole. I had Cole at the same age as Estevao at [Man] City Under-23s and they are very similar. Cole started playing wide because he needed a bit [more] physicality; now he's playing inside.

"And Estevao, they are quite similar. Now he's playing wide but in the future I think he's more of an inside player."

Maresca spent the 2020/21 season as manager of Manchester City's Development Squad and in that squad of players, the Italian had the likes of Palmer, Liam Delap, Romeo Lavia, Oscar Bobb, James McAtee, Morgan Rogers and more. In that campaign, Palmer, who was the same age as Estevao during Maresca's sole season in charge of the Dev Squad at City, produced some ridiculous numbers; scoring 13 goals and providing six assists in 16 Premier League 2 games - averaging more than a direct goal involvement per match.

Palmer played all but one of those games as the right-sided winger, a position he was predominantly used in during Mauricio Pochettino's one season at Stamford Bridge. Since, though, the now 23-year-old has become more of a No.10, while occasionally being asked to do a job on the right wing.

This allows more freedom for Palmer, who tends to drift out to the right-hand side in stages of a match anyway. Palmer himself is not too fussed on which of the two positions he is used in, but it is clear Maresca prefers using him centrally, despite the success he had during his time at City's academy while using the England international on the right wing.

During Maresca's debut season at Stamford Bridge, the Chelsea head coach used Palmer in the No.10 role on 45 occasions, with just six of his 52 appearances in all competitions coming from the right-hand side, and one from the left. "He can play in different positions for us because he is so good on the ball," Maresca said on Palmer back in December of last year.

"He can play wide, in the middle, as a No.9. We try to use him in one position at the moment in the middle of the pitch. But it depends a little bit on the game plan we have and sometimes we move him wide a little bit like he did many times against Brighton. We try to give him the opportunity to enjoy his football because, with him, that is the main thing."

Palmer's numbers, though, in terms of goals and assists, are actually more impressive, albeit with a smaller sample size, on the right wing.

According to data collected by Transfermarkt, Palmer has played on the right wing 29 times in his senior career and in that time, he has scored 17 goals and provided eight assists, almost averaging out to a direct goal contribution in every match. The same website says Palmer has been used an attacking midfielder/No.10 77 times in the first team either at City or Chelsea, and has scored 31 goals while assisting 18 times.

In terms of minutes per goal contribution, Palmer's statistics are stronger when he is coming off the right wing. Of course, though, getting a goal or assist is not everything in football and numbers do not always account for someone's all-round performance. When Palmer is central, there is more of a focus on him from the opposition as he takes up more dangerous positions and that can allow his teammates, at times, to find themselves with more space in attacking areas.

Estevao has started his Chelsea career mainly being used on the right-hand side, with nine of his 11 appearances thus far coming from the wing, with the other two seeing him just behind the striker. For Palmeiras, he made a total of 83 appearances in all competitions for the senior side and in that time, 53 came from the right (22 goals and 11 assists) and nine came from the No.10 (two goals and two assists).

It does seem, judging by Maresca's comments, that Estevao will eventually become a natural No.10 but that then gives the Chelsea head coach a dilemma. Because Palmer is going nowhere...