Andrey Santos has had a mixed time since moving to Europe to join Chelsea on loan.
His spell at Nottingham Forest was a disaster, and he played just a handful of minutes in his 6 months there to start last season. But he continued to impress for the Brazil youth teams which kept his morale up, and then after Christmas was sent to Strasbourg instead, where he settled into the team and really impressed.
His comments to Premier League Brazil today paint an interesting picture of the decisions which explain a little about the €12.5m midfielder’s journey. He explained that he was rather surprised to have been loaned out after feeling that he had done well and impressed Mauricio Pochettino during preseason:
“As soon as I arrived [Chelsea], I had a very good pre-season, very productive. I was very happy and satisfied with my performance, but unfortunately I didn’t have a sequence [run of games].
“It was a bit of a surprise [to have left on loan], but I understand that it is part of the process. It is very difficult for a young person who comes from Brazil to play abroad, especially in the Premier League.”
This does slightly contradict what he said on the Fora do Jogo Youtube page in his native Brazil a month ago, when he said:
“I did very well in the pre-season but I saw that there was Enzo, Caicedo and I wanted to play, have minutes, so I decided together with my family to go out on loan.”
A second chance
This season things haven’t really got any easier for Santos. More players are arriving and few are leaving, and he will know from a year ago that even impressing the coach in preseason doesn’t guarantee his place in the squad once the season starts. Romeo Lavia is going to be fit and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall in the mix too. Another loan looks very likely.
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