In the pre-match polling ahead of our game against Liverpool in the fourth round of the League Cup this week, the one player that nearly everyone agreed should start was Estêvão. Almost exactly 96 per cent of voters wanted to see the 19-year-old out there for the Blues.
The other four might have been all the votes from Xabi Alonso.
The Chelsea manager appears to be the only person who does not seem to rate the 19-year-old, who has been given just 47 minutes of competitive action in the Premier League across six cameos, only one of which was longer than ten minutes. He's started just two games, our previous two games in the League Cup, though was hauled off at half-time in the second of those, of our third round match against Leeds United.
Yesterday, Carlo Ancelotti once again called him up to the Brazil squad. Uncle Carlo has made his fair share of questionable choices of late (like not taking João Pedro to the World Cup), but he's been consistent in his belief in Estêvão.
So what's Alonso's deal? The bossman tried to explain his thinking when asked about it in the post-match press conference, but he didn't really say anything that would suddenly justify the kid's complete lack of involvement.

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