Pedro Neto was Chelsea’s match-winner at Everton but could conceivably have been playing his football elsewhere this season.
Neto fielded interest from Manchester City and Al-Hilal, and was also linked with both Liverpool and Tottenham - yet he stayed put.
There was a sense that people close to Neto were keen on drumming up interest and wanted him to move clubs this summer, but Chelsea were insistent they wanted him to stay.
Neto’s first goal was another of Chelsea’s fast starts to a half, coming a mere 44 seconds after the restart. The second followed in stoppage time; both finishes oozed class and composure and owed plenty, Neto felt, to the new Portugal head coach Jorge Jesus.
Celebration: Pedro Neto scored both Chelsea goals in their 2-0 win over Everton
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In both cases, Neto used up every last second the moment allowed before passing beyond the reach of Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
He later explained: “It has come a little bit from the new coach of the national team. He says when you are near to the area to ask for the ball, so I am really happy with that.”
Alonso has this season shifted Chelsea’s formation away from the 4-2-3-1 system they used under Enzo Maresca, Liam Rosenior and in two separate spells under caretaker boss Calum McFarlane.
Chelsea have tended to set up in a 3-4-2-1 instead. Game time in those front three positions has been difficult to come by for anyone not named Palmer, Rogers or Joao Pedro - as Estevao is all too aware - and so Neto has been playing on the right of that midfield four.
On paper, that means playing deeper than he is used to, and it has involved plenty of defensive work running back towards his own goal. He has been up to the task thus far.
“We came here with personality,” Neto said of Chelsea’s performance at Everton, and he himself has shown bags of it during the early months of the Alonso era.
He is so competitive and a threat against any full-back
Xabi Alonso on Pedro Neto
Jumping to the conclusion Neto has simply been playing as an orthodox right wing-back would be to limit the particular responsibilities he is being given, Alonso feels.
Indeed, when asked after the game to speak about Neto’s reinvention at wing-back, Alonso replied: “You think he is a wing-back?”
The Chelsea manager expanded: “You can call him whatever - winger, wing-back, attacking position, defending - he can do many things. Today he did well.
“He is so competitive. When he is close to the action, he is a threat against any full-back. When he is on the last line or is in between, he connects well with the players around him - with Joao Pedro, with Cole.”
Just as Alonso was uncomfortable settling on a single position to describe Neto’s current role, opposition defenders have been looking uncomfortable when up against the Portuguese, finding his scampering runs difficult to contain and his enigmatic positioning almost impossible to pin down.