Maresca full of praise for Chelsea whiz Estevao after Ajax rout

Maresca full of praise for Chelsea whiz Estevao after Ajax rout

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca admits he enjoyed Estevao's performance for their Champions League win against Ajax on Wednesday night.

Estevao was outstanding as he scored in the 5-1 rout.

Afterwards, Maresca said: "With young players, most of the time you are a little bit worried because they play one game, two games, good game, they score and they think that they are already top players. The good thing about Estevao is that we don't need to be worried about that because he's very humble, he's very polite, he wants to work hard.

"He has a fantastic family, they are very close to him. And for me personally, he's fantastic because he's a special player, but at the same time you don't have to be worried.

"Now he's going to play one game, two games, score and he's already thinking that he knows how good he is. But the good thing is that he's a very simple guy, a simple boy."

On Estevao's bicycle attempt effort, Maresca also said: "Absolutely, I feel very lucky to be his manager because it's exciting, you can enjoy. We said many times, I think the fans at the end, they paid the tickets to see players like Cole (Palmer), like Estevao, this kind of player. So it's nice that we can have players like Estevao, like Cole, like them."

He added, "I work with them every day, I know what they can do. I know also that we're going to have moments where we struggle a little bit more, for sure. But I think the good thing about them is that they want to learn, they want to improve and I think it's good."