Portugal U21 international Quenda has already been included in senior squads with his country, having first been drafted into that fold in September 2024 when aged just 17.
He got to cross paths with Cristiano Ronaldo during that camp, but was left starstruck by the five-time Ballon d’Or winner. Quenda told Canal 11 of a slightly surreal experience: “He [Ronaldo] was going up and I was going down. When I rang the elevator, he was going up and he appeared. I was a bit embarrassed, but that’s normal! I didn’t say anything. He’s an example for everyone, for all the kids who dream of being footballers.”
Ronaldo said of that exchange: “Many of them are embarrassed to talk to me. A little while ago I was going up to my room and I saw the new boy, 17 years old, Quenda. I went to him and said: ‘So, have you recovered from the game?’. I saw that he was embarrassed.
“I don’t say I’m a father, but an older brother. It could be a father to some and, as I said before, I’ve been through the same thing as them and the national team is a family.”
Quenda has picked up more priceless experience since then, as he begins to feel more settled in the company of household names, and that should help him to slot seamlessly into the fold at Chelsea when an exciting new challenge is fully embraced.