Is Kenedy Pushing for a Starting Place at Chelsea?

He arrived under the radar this summer, but in just his first three appearances, Kenedy has announced himself to Chelsea and English football.

He impressed as a substitute in the 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace, and after starring in Chelsea's 4-1 win over Walsall this week, Kenedy has shown himself to be quite the prospect.

A calf injury picked up in that game is expected to hinder his prospects in the immediate future, but in the long term, Blues manager Jose Mourinho knows he has a talent on his hands.

"Kenedy played well. He was having pain in one calf, so I had to take him off [in the second half], but a nice performance for him, good experience, more minutes on the pitch," Mourinho explained after the game.

What has encouraged most about Kenedy in these first weeks of his Chelsea career is just how confident he is. There hasn't been any fear, with the Brazilian playing with the sort of conviction we're not used to seeing from players with such little experience.

Indeed, the status quo at Chelsea these days is young players arriving in west London and departing just as quickly for a loan spell at some European outpost.

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A lot of the time they end up at Vitesse Arnhem, and looking at the 33 players Chelsea have farmed out across the continent, a few eyebrows would have been raised when Kenedy didn't help increase that number shortly after his transfer was finalised.

That was the expectation, and now we're seeing why Mourinho opted against it.

Given it was League One opposition that Chelsea faced on Wednesday, it's important we keep Kenedy's Capital One Cup performance in perspective.

The 19-year-old will face much tougher opposition in his Chelsea career, yet it was the way he conducted himself at the Banks's Stadium that impressed.

With bigger names than him throughout Chelsea's lineup, Kenedy knew he needed to stand out, which he did. He not only assisted Ramires for the game's opening goal, but he also scored Chelsea's third at a time when Walsall were feeling confident they may well level the tie to make it 2-2.

Then it would have been "squeaky bum time," but instead Chelsea were able to see the game out and get their Capital One Cup defence off to the right start.

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Combining well with Ruben Loftus-Cheek—who impressed yet again for Chelsea in the heart of midfield—Kenedy's strike was the sort every manager craves from their players.

It came with the importance of killing the game, the youngster playing with the authority to take on that responsibility without looking to someone like Radamel Falcao to lead the way.

Kenedy's celebration was one laced with emotion as he threw himself to the floor, overwhelmed by scoring his first goal in Chelsea colours.

Whereas his emotions got the better of him as he celebrated, Kenedy showed excellent composure to finish with his weaker right foot.

Chelsea paid just £6.3 million for the Brazilian, which is looking shrewd business. It has just been one start and two substitute appearances for Kenedy, yet already he has proved far more productive for Chelsea than some of the misfits from the recent past.

In comparison, the Blues signed Juan Cuadrado for a whopping £26.1 million in January. Despite his experience, he was a massive failure.

The Colombia international is now on a season-long with Juventus, with Chelsea hoping he doesn't return.

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Cuadrado severely weakened the Chelsea squad last season. He offered little when he did feature, and come the end of the campaign, the reluctance of Mourinho to deploy him in those crucial attacking positions was clear.

His stats said it all. A player famed for a rumoured ability to create goals, he scored zero and assisted zero in his nine months as a Chelsea player.

It hasn't even taken Kenedy nine weeks to beat that.

Despite his debut ending in defeat against Crystal Palace, such was the impression Kenedy left on Chelsea fans, his appearance from the bench a fortnight later against Everton was greeted with high optimism.

Chelsea were losing 2-1 at the time, and despite the multi-million-pound stars on the pitch, the hope was that he would have another positive cameo to get them back into the game at Goodison Park.

That he was largely ineffective that day is irrelevant, though, with Wednesday's performance at Walsall a timely reminder that Chelsea's options beyond their starting XI are looking better than we may have thought.

Kenedy has captured the imagination, and if he keeps it up, some of his more high-profile team-mates may start to look over their shoulder.

Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes.