Andrey Santos is set to join Manchester United from Chelsea, after the two teams have reportedly agreed a transfer worth £50m today — meeting Chelsea’s previous reported asking price. According to The Athletic, £48m of that is payable up front, with a further £2m to paid after “easily achievable bonuses” are met. Chelsea are also retaining a 10 per cent sell-on clause, should the 22-year-old midfielder move for even more money in the future.
Santos was a regular part of the Chelsea rotation last season after completing his time on loan at sister-club RC Strasbourg, but apparently he’s looking to “establish a regular starting spot” and evidently believes that would be tougher at Stamford Bridge with Moisés Caicedo locked-in long term and Enzo Fernández possibly staying after all his transfer drama. Santos may not be necessarily wrong, but I don’t think he’ll be walking into guaranteed minutes at United either (even with Casemiro leaving), especially with Atalanta midfielder Éderson also set to join.
Andrey joined Chelsea in January 2023 for €13+7m from Vasco da Gama, who had just won the Brazilian second division. He then spent time on loan back at Vasco, before a disastrous six months at Nottingham Forest led to an in-house move to Strasbourg, where he became one of their best players over the course of 18 months. Last season, he made 43 appearances for Chelsea in all competitions, scoring three goals. He’s gone from a player with great promise to a player on the fringes of the Brazilian national team (6 caps), who just missed out on a spot in their World Cup squad. He’s a shining example of BlueCo’s recruitment model, for whatever that’s worth.
