Although Carlo Ancelotti’s time at Chelsea was brief, it was highly successful. The Italian manager led the Blues to the Premier League title in the 2009/10 season, becoming the first team of the era to score 100 goals in a season. He helped build the team that would win the Champions League shortly after his dismissal.
Now, Ancelotti has been dismissed at another high-profile job after another very successful tenure. Don Carlo brought two Champions League titles and a LaLiga and Copa del Rey crown back to the Spanish capital, marking their first UCL victories since Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure for Juventus in 2018.
Carlo has taken over his first national team job with Brazil, where he will coach former and current Real Madrid superstars in Eder Militao, Casemiro, Rodrygo Goes, Endrick, and, of course, Vinicius Junior.
But he’ll also be coaching two Chelsea gems who have as much potential as any of those Real Madrid stars in Estevao Willian and Andrey Santos. After shining with Palmeiras, right winger Willian will be making his Chelsea debut this season, while defensive midfielder Santos will be ready for a role with the Blues in 2025/26 after a Ligue 1 Player of the Season-caliber campaign with partner club Strasbourg.
Chelsea’s Brazilian youngsters can learn a lot from Carlo
Both Santos and Willian are evidently valued highly by Ancelotti, who has reportedly been utilizing both young sensations as starting-level players for Brazil during his initial practices.
Brazil have two big World Cup qualifying matches coming up this week in June against Ecuador and Paraguay, and on the strengths of their displays for their respective clubs over the past year, Santos and Willian have shown that they are at the national team level.
Given how poorly big-name players like Rodrygo have fared for Brazil, including at last year’s Copa America, there can’t be any harm in giving a pure talent like Willian the chance to be an explosive, goal-scoring spark for the Selecao in 2025.
Ancelotti is known for being great at working with young attacking talent, as Rodrygo and Vinicius had their breakouts at Real Madrid under Carlo after a couple of years of taking their lumps.
So many experienced attackers, such as Cristiano Ronaldo, have had their best ever seasons while working with Carletto, so Willian has that to look forward to – and Ancelotti appears to be a believer.
Meanwhile, Santos should have an even more important role under Carlo. While Ancelotti may trust his former No. 6 in Madrid, Casemiro, Santos is coming off a much better season and has more juice in his legs.
With Case’s experience and Carlo’s coaching guiding him, Santos can reach another level entirely at Brazil. By giving Willian and Santos opportunities to play for the Brazil national team and his own coaching guidance, Ancelotti can help the development of two of Chelsea’s biggest gems, which will be benefits that the Blues can see for years to come with these two as fixtures for the Selecao.
Joe Soriano covers Tottenham for FanSided’s Hotspur HQ and writes about Real Madrid for The Real Champs. He has extensive experience covering world football since 2014. Joe is an editor for The Trivela Effect, where he covers the biggest clubs in European football. He has watched professional sports regularly since 2002 and can be found playing the same sports he covers with his friends.