Footage from Chelsea's first training session under Xabi Alonso reveals where the coach plans to deploy new signing Geovany Quenda, fresh from Sporting CP.
Thanks to the images of Chelsea's first training sessions at Cobham, we were able to observe several young players having the opportunity to impress Xabi Alonso; we are talking about multiple academy players and the new arrival, Geovany Quenda, who was signed a few days ago for the modest sum of £44 million. According to multiple media outlets, he is projected to be one of the best footballers of his generation.
In these images, we also observed how the coach plans to use him. The doubt arose mainly from whether, being a right winger like the club's biggest gem, Estevao, he would be used as a left winger and abandon the inverted role, or compete directly with the young Brazilian for the position.
Everything indicates that the right-wing position will be strongly contested between the two young footballers; in the training photos, he can be seen covering that position while facing the defender, Levi Colwill. In what promises to be one of the toughest competitions within the same dressing room, since neither of the two will just sit and watch the other take the starting spot.
The truth is that Quenda could start with an advantage at the beginning of the upcoming season due to the injury Estevao is still recovering from. A Grade 4 hamstring injury that caused him to miss the end of the previous season, as well as the World Cup with his national team, which meant a heavy blow for Carlo Ancelotti since the young winger had become one of his strongest weapons.
But it was an even heavier blow for him because, we repeat, he had become the pillar of the Brazilian offense, an attack with great synergy since it included his Chelsea teammate, Joao Pedro. Once he received news of the severity of his injury, he could do nothing but cry and try everything possible to be physically ready for the date when the coach had to announce the list of called-up players, something he was unable to achieve.
Without a doubt, the internal competition between Quenda and Estevao will be worth watching. Who will keep the starting right-wing spot, and who will have to settle for being on the bench? A question that will soon have an answer, as the return of the Premier League is drawing nearer. Alonso will have to take advantage of this competition so that both young players grow immensely.
