The years pass and so do the talents. A machine for producing football geniuses, Brazil may have been stalling in recent years, but it nonetheless continues to produce nuggets. Nearly twenty years ago, Neymar was on the verge of revealing himself on Santos’ side. Today, a certain Estevão Willian is about to hatch. The latter has even just erased one of the “Ney” precocity records.
The right winger who currently plays for Palmeiras has ten goals and eight assists in twenty-four league games this season, for a total of eighteen statistical contributions. And all this achieved at just seventeen years old (he celebrated his birthday last April). While his team faced Juventude on the night of Sunday to Monday, the auriverde prodigy opened the scoring in the twenty-second minute, before becoming a decisive passer on the second goal of Palmeiras, winner away (3 -5).
Estevão Willian and Neymar together in selection?
And these two contributions therefore allowed him to erase Neymar from the shelves on this record of precocity. The latter held him for a long time since he was involved in sixteen Santos goals while he himself was a Brazilian U17. It is therefore a small feat that Estevão Willian has just achieved, whose talent has not escaped European recruiters. The native of Franca (state of São Paulo) has already signed with Chelsea FC, which he will join on July 1, 2025.
Brazilian champion with his club in 2023, Estevão Willian has even already been selected for the first time with the Seleçao first team. If Neymar manages to regain his optimal form, the two men could well play together, to the delight of Brazilian supporters.
