Chelsea winger Estevao checked in for preseason today – but that doesn’t mean he’s close to a return on the pitch.
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Chelsea have their first day of preseason today, and the club social media accounts are full of images of players rocking up to Cobham ready to start under new manager Xabi Alonso.
One of those players the fans were most happy to see was Estevao Willian. The winger has been out since March with a hamstring injury. But supporters shouldn’t think that seeing him today at the training ground means he’s close to a return. Liam Twomey’s update on the Straight Outta Cobham podcast this week makes it very clear that there’s still a long road back for the winger.
Chelsea to be patient with talented young winger
“He appears to have opted not to have surgery and to manage this [injury] without going down that path,” the Chelsea correspondent pointed out.
“That is certainly a viable way to do it, depending on the specifics of his injury. But he needs to be loaded very, very carefully as he comes back.
“He doesn’t appear to be full-blown running, let alone sprinting yet. That could be a little while. I’d be surprised if he was back for the start of pre-season, but Chelsea could potentially have him back in something close to full-form in the first half of the season, shall we say.
“It’s very difficult to put a clear timeframe on it at this stage, but they’ll just want to make sure that once he’s back, he’s really back.”
In other news…
Midfield changes for Chelsea are coming – Andrey Santos is on his way out, Enzo Fernandez could join him, and Granit Xhaka has ruled himself out of a move.
Alejandro Garnacho could leave Chelsea just a year at the club, and the top sources are hinting more and more that he could go very soon.
