Chelsea have not changed their stance on Estevao Willian’s future amid his struggles for minutes and reported interest from Barcelona.

There has been a lot of speculation surrounding the 19-year-old’s future at Chelsea due to his limited game time under Xabi Alonso.

Estevao has yet to make a Premier League start this season and has only played 148 minutes of football plus stoppage time, across six appearances in all competitions.

Despite this, Alonso has insisted that the young winger would “100 per cent” play an important role for the Blues this season. Estevao, on the other hand, argued that he focuses on “what he can control” and respects the manager’s choice.

Still, it is no surprise that the Brazil international has been linked with a potential move away from Stamford Bridge.

Spanish outlet Sport recently claimed that Barcelona, who already showed interest in Estevao during his days at Palmeiras, are still keeping tabs on the player’s situation in London. 

However, Football London reported that Chelsea still view Estevao as an untouchable player and a massive part of the club’s long-term future plans.

The reason why Estevao has yet to establish himself as a regular starter at Chelsea is the fierce competition for attacking spots in the team.

There are only two regular non-striker attacking spots in Alonso’s preferred 3-4-2-1 system, and both Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer are ahead of the teenager in the pecking order.

Palmer, in particular, is Estevao’s main competition, given that both are left-footed attackers who thrive in the right pocket.

Therefore, joining Barcelona, who already have Lamine Yamal at the centre of their plans, just to be in a similar situation would make very little footballing sense.

That said, there is no easy solution to Estevao’s situation at Chelsea, either. As long as the 3-4-2-1 remains the primary formation, Palmer is likely to continue to occupy the starting spot as the right-sided number 10 ahead of Estevao.

His situation might improve if Chelsea could go deep in domestic cups and return to European football next season, but these are big ifs.

For now, Estevao is enjoying his time on international duty with Brazil. He has already featured twice in the two friendlies against Australia, starting the first and coming on as a second-half substitute in the second.

Brazil head coach Carlo Ancelotti recently said he would continue to give minutes to Estevao, whom he deems a crucial piece of the national team, regardless of his situation at Chelsea.

“Sometimes the club’s interests do not align with those of the national team,” the Italian said last week.

“For us, Estevao, along with other young players, is very, very important.

“And even if he doesn’t play or doesn’t get any playing time at his club, I will call him up, because we believe he is very important for the future, and we will give him the opportunity to continue his development.”