Chelsea finally played their first pre-season friendly, securing a victory over Erik ten Hag’s Bayer Leverkusen with their new wonderkid Estevao Willian both starting and scoring.

Their initial Premier League matchup will be against Crystal Palace. Notably, Oliver Glasner’s team had a behind-closed-doors friendly with Millwall on July 12.

That was a day before Chelsea played Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup in the United States on July 13 followed by a three-week break.

ESTE-WOW IS WORTH THE WAIT

Chelsea fans had a long wait for Estevao Willian—fourteen months, to be precise. The club announced in May 2024 that they had signed the Brazilian wonderkid from Palmeiras, set to join once he turned 18.

During that time, fans had only seen clips of his exceptional skills, including a memorable performance at the Club World Cup where he scored against Chelsea from a seemingly impossible angle.

In this match, it took him just 17 minutes to score. He started the first half on the right wing and shifted to the No 10 position in the second half. Despite criticism of Chelsea’s transfer strategy, this Brazilian talent seems to be the kind of player worth the price of admission.

MAD MARC IS A SCRAPPER

Brighton chief executive Paul Barber hosted a fan Q&A session this week. When questioned about Chelsea, he humorously called them ‘my best customer’ due to numerous sales.

Marc Cucurella is no longer the £63million waste of money he was once considered, however. He is Chelsea’s cult hero who does not appear to know the meaning of the word ‘friendly’.

Cucurella was getting stuck into Leverkusen here and when Jarell Quansah left a naughty tackle in on Palmer, who was there to give the former Liverpool defender a piece of his mind? Cucurella, of course. Rumour has it Chelsea may reward him with an updated contract soon.

NO NICO, BUT CHELSEA HAVE STRIKER OPTIONS

Liam Delap started as Chelsea’s striker while Joao Pedro scored after coming on as a substitute. Nicolas Jackson was nowhere to be seen after Daily Mail Sport revealed he had been excluded from the squad for this friendly while the club work on selling him.

If Jackson does leave as expected, Chelsea may not need to search for a emergency third-choice striker, even if Marc Guiu has been loaned to Sunderland. Maresca believes Estevao could be used as a false nine along with Palmer and Pedro Neto if need be.

COVER FOR COLWILL

Levi Colwill’s ACL injury suffered in their first training session back in pre-season was devastating news for Chelsea given how crucial he was to their last campaign.

They are considering whether they need to make a move for a central defender this month, but Josh Acheampong was used as the left-sided centre back here. It is an important position under Maresca as that player is expected to shuffle across when the left back inverts into midfield. Acheampong, 19, performed well, with Aaron Anselmino, 20, replacing him late on.

Jorrel Hato can also be used as a left-sided centre back as well as a left back, which is where the £37m signing from Ajax played here after replacing Cucurella at half-time.

MIDFIELD MEN HERE TO HELP

There was no Romeo Lavia in the Chelsea squad after he picked up yet another injury during the Club World Cup and last season saw a heavy reliance on Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez in midfield.

They needed help for the next campaign and they now have that in Dario Essugo and Andrey Santos, the 21-year-old Brazilian who last season enjoyed an excellent loan with their sister club Strasbourg in France.

Santos’ return for the forthcoming season is a big reason why Chelsea allowed Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to leave for Everton in a £25million permanent move this week.

Chelsea marked their return to action following last month’s Club World Cup triumph with a 2-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in their penultimate pre-season outing.

In a lop-sided match at Stamford Bridge, the Blues made an early breakthrough in the first half when Estevao found the net on 18 minutes.