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Emerson’s second season at Chelsea started about as well as the first (half-season). His minutes were limited to secondary matchdays in the Europa League and the League Cup, and he was not even picked for the bench on the first 15 Premier League matchdays. His first Premier League minutes, a 5-minute cameo as a late substitute, came on Boxing Day.
Unsurprisingly, transfer rumors began to speculate about a move back to Italy, with usual suspects such as Inter Milan, or his old team, AS Roma linked. But as his agent, Leonardo Cornacini tells it, Emerson remained patient, took advantage of his eventual opportunities, and the rest, as they say, is history — Europa League history!
“Well, at first a little difficult. There was competition from Marcos Alonso, another great player. Then Emerson took confidence, he did the Europa League very well, he had the patience to wait for his moment.”
With his career trending upwards (and Alonso now the focus of transfer speculation instead), Emerson looks to be staying in the SW6 for a good long while. At just 24 years of age still, his best years are still ahead of him.
“Emerson will stay at Chelsea. He still has many years in his contract, he is happy and the club are happy to keep him. We are sure that the future is in London.”
-Leonardo Cornacini; source: TuttoMercatoWeb via Google Translate
Here’s to many more trophy-winning years!