Portugal Under-21s head coach Luis Freire was preparing to substitute Geovany Quenda when the ball arrived at the 19-year-old’s feet near the right touchline in the 72nd minute.Quenda dribbled towards his back-pedalling marker until he saw another defender shuttling across to double up against him. With a sharp change of direction and two quick touches, he evaded the trap before it could be fully set. With two more, he burst infield, creating enough separation to go for goal.His shot, low and hard and uncorked with minimal back-lift of his left foot, bounced through the gap between the despairing goalkeeper and his near post.It was Quenda’s second of a 4-0 friendly win over Northern Ireland Under-21s in the Portuguese resort town of Estoril earlier this month. He had started the match playing left-winger, the position from where he raced onto a pass behind the visitors’ defence in the 35th minute and passed the ball coolly under the advancing ’keeper.Freire eventually did take him off after 75 highly productive minutes.Geovany Quenda runs away to celebrate after scoring against Northern Ireland Under-21s (Gualter Fatia/Getty Images)The setting and the opposition will not exactly leave Chelsea supporters salivating at the prospect of Quenda completing his €47.5million (£41m; $55m) move to Stamford Bridge from Lisbon’s Sporting CP this summer, but the match action was welcome; it was only the second time he has played for more than 70 minutes in a frustrating but potentially formative first half of 2026.A broken metatarsal in his right foot, sustained in early December, sidelined Quenda for four months of what he had hoped would be a breakthrough season at senior level. He could not play, but was far from idle. In the course of his rehabilitation, he came to London to begin to acclimatise to his future home and make use of the facilities and resources at Chelsea’s training complex in Cobham.Part of that process involved Quenda embarking on a rigorous programme of nutrition and muscle development aimed at better equipping him to handle the greater degree of physicality in Premier League football without compromising his speed or agility. By the time he was ready to return to action in mid-April, regular observers remarked on how much stronger he looked.Quenda’s return could not prevent Porto ending Sporting’s fading hopes for a third consecutive league title. He remained largely an impact substitute for coach Rui Borges behind established wingers Pedro Goncalves and Geny Catamo, though he did start the second leg of a tense semi-final in the Taca de Portugal (their FA Cup equivalent) as Sporting eliminated Porto on their own pitch.Quenda made an impression at Sporting CP, when fit (Miguel Lemos/AFP via Getty Images)However, they were then humiliated 2-1, after extra time, by second division side Torreense in the final. Quenda came on at the end of regulation and could not find the moment of inspiration that might have signed off his last match for the club with one more trophy, though he did dust off an impressive long-throw technique which may intrigue Chelsea’s set-piece coach Bernardo Cueva.Sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, have told The Athletic that the plan is for Quenda to stay with Chelsea’s first-team squad next season rather than go out on loan to gain experience. That raises the interesting question about where exactly he would fit into the tactical thoughts of incoming manager Xabi Alonso, who could utilise the teenager’s versatility as well as his talent.Quenda appears equally comfortable playing left or right wing, but he made his senior professional breakthrough for Sporting two years ago as a surging wing-back under future Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim.This could appeal to Alonso if he plans to implement a variation of his spectacularly successful system from his Bayer Leverkusen days at Chelsea, though it is too early to know definitively how he will choose to set the west Londoners up.Leverkusen’s football under the Spaniard was animated by the differing roles and complementary skill sets of their wing-backs. Alex Grimaldo was more of a playmaking, creative hub slightly deeper on the left, while Jeremie Frimpong was the speedy threat deployed very high on the right, often becoming their furthest player forward. That pair combined for 19 goals and 20 assists as Leverkusen surged to a first Bundesliga title in 2023-24 without losing any of their 34 league games.Could a similar dynamic be mirrored at Chelsea?Reece James has the technical quality, passing range and eye for goal on the right that Grimaldo brought to the party. That would leave Alonso in search of a Frimpong-style athlete to play on the left.Marc Cucurella would be the natural choice, but he may leave Stamford Bridge this summer. There’s Pedro Neto, but he would require some degree of adaptation if he were repurposed for the role.There is no such question about Quenda’s tactical suitability or his athletic capabilities. Those familiar with his mindset say he is excited to work with Alonso and plans to cut his summer break short to report for pre-season training a few days early. His initial aims are modest: to absorb the ideas of his new manager, to learn from his team-mates and commit himself fully to making a positive impression.Had the 2025-26 season gone to plan, Quenda might even have succeeded in making himself a young wild-card in the Portugal squad at the World Cup. The absence of such an adventure over the next month or so does at least put him in a more favourable position to build some early momentum in training at Cobham and during Chelsea’s pre-season friendlies in Australia and East Asia.Benfica’s Antonio Silva tries to check the threat posed by Quenda in the Lisbon derby (Patricia de Melo Moreira/AFP via Getty Images)July will bring a swift introduction to the level of squad competition Quenda will face at Chelsea.Countryman Neto is the only one of the club’s established wingers who is at the World Cup.Estevao is already making positive public noises about his recovery from the hamstring injury that ended his hopes of a Brazil squad place while Alejandro Garnacho and Jamie Gittens should both be highly motivated to impress in their second seasons at the club. Another flexible attacker capable of going straight into the starting XI could also arrive at some point this summer.With no European football at Stamford Bridge next season after last month’s 10th-placed finish and FA Cup final defeat, game time will be a much scarcer resource than usual.That reality makes Chelsea’s intention to keep Quenda around more interesting, and a subplot worth monitoring once Alonso formally begins his work next month.