By OkayGoal
The long international break creates a lot of club vs. country debates – but in one case, it’s actually potentially helpful for Chelsea.
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The situation with Estevao at Chelsea is not going in a good direction right now. He was just starting to earn regular starts last season when injury took him down for the end of the campaign.
This season, he’s been largely stuck on the bench, with a formation change not helping him. There have been whispers in Brazil that he’s not happy about a lack of game time. Thank god, then, for the international break, where it looks like he’ll get plenty of minutes for his country.
His Brazil manager Carlo Ancelotti even pretty much said as much in his press conference today.
Ancelotti says Brazil can offer Estevao chances he’s not getting at Chelsea
“Estevão is a very important player for the national team. Sometimes the club’s interests are not the same as the national team’s interests,” Ancelotti explained.
“For us, Estevão, along with other young players, is very, very important, and if he doesn’t play, if he doesn’t get minutes at the club, I’m going to call him up, because we think he’s very important for the future, and we’re going to give him the opportunity to improve his development.”
In other news…
Another player in the Brazil squad for this window is Gabriel Bontempo, who is expected to make his debut for Ancelotti.
Marco Palestra is close to a return from an injury that’s kept him out for the whole season so far.
Carlton Cole has been speaking about Joao Pedro and what a major impact he’s going to make on Chelsea this season.