Chelsea sent Lionel Messi warning as exciting £29m prediction made

Former Arsenal midfielder Gilberto Silva has dismissed comparisons between Estevao Willian and Lionel Messi and has urged people not to apply too much pressure on the Chelsea youngster.

The 18-year-old has sparkled since signing from Palmeiras in the summer, with the teenager making the big transition look fairly seamless. Of course there is much more to a transition than just his form on the pitch, but in that regard, Estevao has been superb.

The Brazil international, who scored twice for his country in their 5-0 win over South Korea on Friday, won the match against Liverpool before the international break, with the winger scoring a stoppage time goal - his first for the club - to send Stamford Bridge into ecstasy. There is plenty of talk around Estevao at the moment, with some even comparing him to Messi, arguably the greatest footballer of all time - with the teen's nickname 'Messinho' or 'Little Messi'.

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Gilberto, though, was quick to play down comparisons between the Brazilian and the Argentine. The former Arsenal man, however, did predict the £29million signing to become one of the best footballers in the world in the future.

"It's too early to say that and put this pressure on him," Gilberto told GiveMeSport. "I like for him to develop because he's such a nice boy, very humble. To be compared like this, I don't want to compare.

"He has the ability to become a good version of Estevao. To achieve things with Chelsea and to help them be at the top as much as he can."

The Brazilian added: "I believe he's going to be a very top player. He's got the talent.

"I have known him since he was a very little kid back in Belo Horizonte, with Cruzeiro. Later on, he moved to Palmeiras and he stepped over so fast with his game, developing his skills, his strength.

"I believe now he is going to get more mature. The maturity of moving to a different country will be so important for him to change experience. A different league, experiencing a different type of competition, a high-level competition, in Europe, against the best players in the world, will be important for his maturity and improvement.

"I'm sure he's going to be a top, top player. Not only for Chelsea, but in the world."

Estevao has been used on the right wing and the No.10 position in his early days at Stamford Bridge. Enzo Maresca believes the Brazilian has the capability to play in either and even compared his development and path to that of Cole Palmer.

Speaking earlier this month, the Chelsea head coach explained: "We consider all of our players to give them minutes in all positions. Estevao reminds me a lot of Cole when Cole was with me in the Under-23s at Man City.

"Cole's path has been similar to Estevao's path in terms of starting wide as a winger and then slowly you can move inside. In the Premier League, if you want to play in the middle, you need to be physically prepared."