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Andrey Santos: The key cog in the way Chelsea want to play under Liam Rosenior https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7007379/2026/01/30/Chelsea-andrey-santos-liam-rosenior-analysis/ “Andrey plays like he’s 32. I call him Dunga: he’s Brazilian but he doesn’t play like one. He’s so smart and his stats are through the roof, in terms of scoring goals, winning duels. He’s going to have an outstanding career.” When they were uttered to The Athletic a year ago, Liam Rosenior’s words were interpreted simply as fulsome praise for Andrey Santos, the impressively mature Chelsea loanee he had chosen to captain his startlingly young Strasbourg side in a rollercoaster 2024-25 season that almost yielded a surprise Champions League qualification. Much has changed in the last 12 months, and now they read as an early foreshadowing of the increasingly prominent role Santos is playing for Rosenior in the heart of Chelsea’s midfield. The 21-year-old has featured in all but one of Rosenior’s first six matches as Chelsea head coach across all competitions, starting four times (including against Arsenal and Napoli). For context, he started just eight of the first 29 matches of this season under Enzo Maresca, and was rarely trusted with significant minutes in big games. Cole Palmer’s fitness issues have factored into that shift, with Enzo Fernandez more regularly selected in an advanced midfield role. But it is already clear that Rosenior favours a true double pivot at the base of his midfield rather than inverting a full-back next to Moises Caicedo in possession, and Santos appears to be his preferred partner for the Ecuadorian. Maresca at times gave the impression of not quite knowing what to make of Santos. Last summer, he said he saw the Brazilian as more of an attacking than a defensive midfielder, “more like Enzo than Moi or (Romeo) Lavia”, before claiming in December that Chelsea’s squad lacked a natural replacement for Fernandez and that Santos is “more of a No 6”. Rosenior has no such doubts, and Santos’ position in his team is clearly defined. He is invariably Chelsea’s deepest midfielder, making himself available to receive the ball from his defenders and goalkeepers and trusted to direct passages of possession largely with short, sensible passes. His consistently deep presence allows Caicedo to operate slightly in advance of the ball, as illustrated below against Crystal Palace… … and against Napoli… Without the ball at Selhurst Park, Santos also took on the responsibility of man-marking Brennan Johnson, tracking the Wales international back into his own penalty area to neutralise danger when circumstances required him to do so… “It’s like a semi-four or semi-five at the back with Andrey in between,” Rosenior said of Chelsea’s tactical structure after the Palace win. “I’m lucky with Andrey because he’s done it for me before (at Strasbourg last season). The beauty of having Andrey there allows Moi to stay in the middle of the pitch where I love him to be and have him and Enzo at the top.” Freed from the responsibility of anchoring the entire Chelsea midfield, Caicedo can become more of a roaming destroyer and even push more regularly towards the opposition box, where his exceptional ball striking makes him a genuine additional goal threat. It also gives Fernandez greater midfield cover as he seeks to impact the game in the final third. This balance between Santos’ positional discipline and Caicedo’s broader range of influence can be seen in their respective touchmaps against Palace… Santos is confident and generally comfortable receiving the ball under pressure in his own defensive third. When he first broke through at Vasco da Gama, it was not uncommon to see him dribble the ball out of his own penalty area from short goal kicks. Chelsea would be brave to attempt something similar against a Premier League opposition press, but there is no reason to believe he will be a liability in this role, particularly when Caicedo is close enough to help him. That was not the case in Chelsea’s Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg defeat against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge. Caicedo’s suspension left the more defensively limited Fernandez as Santos’ pivot partner, and the Brazilian endured some hairy moments playing out from the back when the Premier League leaders decided to hunt the ball with intent… Santos and Caicedo were also pulled too far apart in the lead-up to Napoli’s first goal against Chelsea on Wednesday. The Brazilian’s attempted pass upfield fell short of finding any of his team-mates, and the result was Antonio Vergara running at an isolated Wesley Fofana with both of Rosenior’s midfield pivots caught badly out of position. Occasional costly errors are an unavoidable consequence of trusting a 21-year-old to control such a key area of the pitch. Santos has also flashed plenty of promise operating in tandem with Caicedo, adding more physicality to Rosenior’s midfield out of possession as well as presenting a more technically capable option for progressing the ball than Marc Cucurella or Malo Gusto whenever they are shunted infield. One aspect of Santos’ game which may recede in his current Chelsea role is his goalscoring. Last season, he found the net on 10 occasions in Ligue 1, at times displaying outstanding instincts for when to arrive in the opposition penalty area. But a sizeable chunk of his goal threat also derives from his ability to convert in the box from set-piece deliveries, and there is no reason why set-piece coach Bernardo Cueva should not be able to harness this particular talent. Santos will face greater competition for regular midfield minutes at Chelsea when Palmer’s health improves, and if Lavia can ever find a way to conquer his own injury demons. But all the signs are that he will be given his most substantial opportunity yet to establish himself as a key figure at Stamford Bridge. Brazil legend Dunga was 30 when he anchored a team of world champions at the 1994 World Cup in the United States. Thanks to Rosenior, Santos is already beginning to do the same. By Liam Twomey and Anantaajith Raghuraman

Liam Rosenior says Chelsea defender Levi Colwill could play again this season after ACL injury https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7009973/2026/01/30/levi-colwill-Chelsea-injury-latest/ Chelsea defender Levi Colwill could feature again this season after starting light training following nearly six months out with a serious knee injury, according to head coach Liam Rosenior. Colwill tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee on the first day of pre-season training in early August. There were doubts over whether the centre back would feature at all in 2025-26, but Rosenior today revealed he is making good progress. At his press conference on Friday, Rosenior said: “I spoke with him this morning. He is getting on really good. What a professional. He is working so hard in terms of his rehab. It is brilliant to see him out on the pitch now, doing his running. It is a huge step for him. “Obviously an ACL is a really difficult injury. He is itching to get back but we need to make sure that when he is back, he is feeling 100 per cent perfect. He is another outstanding player I cannot wait to work with.” Pressed on whether he now expects him to play this campaign, he replied: “Yes but it is step by step. At the moment he is in a really good place, he is on a good track but I don’t like putting timeframes on injuries because it puts unnecessary pressure on players when their health is the most important thing.” What You Should Read Next Liam Rosenior’s statement win in Napoli is vital for him – and Chelsea The club's new head coach has made a superb start and sparked hope that this could yet be a memorable campaign Rosenior has also ruled out the possibility of Josh Acheampong leaving before the transfer deadline on Monday evening. Acheampong, who has been an unused substitute in Chelsea’s last three games, has been linked with a move away in recent weeks. But Rosenior said: “Josh is an outstanding player, I want Josh with me.” Chelsea take on West Ham United on Saturday with Cole Palmer ready to start after impressing as a second-half substitute in the 3-2 win against Napoli on Wednesday. He had missed the previous two matches with a minor thigh problem. Midfielder Romeo Lavia is getting close to returning to the squad after a quad injury, while Tosin Adarabioyo has resumed light training following a hamstring injury. Neither will be ready for the fixture at Stamford Bridge. By Simon Johnson Chelsea Correspondent

Hato and Acheampong would play on edges of a conventional back 3. But in other areas we don't have the right players for that further upfield.

Also curious to know if Estavao is finally ready to be a mainstay in the starting 11. Back to back starts in the league and in Europe is a good sign.

Just like against the weakened Palace, this is another game where Chelsea is expected to win. Doesn't matter how its done, but that it is. If Rosenior can add to that win column, kudos to him.

This is why I’m really wondering if the reason we want Jacquet so badly is so that we can switch mainly to a back 3 with him in the center. Maybe that’s why we want so many damn CB’s on our books. To have depth for 3 spots instead of 2.

a problem with all this (and even including a possible Mamadou Sarr recall): ALL CBs you listed are right footed, except for our ONLY healthy left-footed true CB (the turgid Badi) Mamdou Sarr- righty Tosin - righty Disasi - righty Jacquet - righty Anselmino - righty Badi - lefty (and with Colwill, our only other lefty TRUE (see Hato below) CB on the roster, still out for months still, IF Badi leaves, we have no left-footed CBs at all, as Fofana, Josh, and Trevoh are all righty's too) Hato (lefty) is not up to playing EPL CB atm (plus he is too short IMHO), although he does look much better at LB lately CuCu (lefty) has already been tried at CB many times before and was NOT up to it, plus is even shorter than Hato selling Renato Veiga (lefty) was fucking so so stupid IMHO, he would be getting massive minutes now IF Badi goes, we simply have to pull one of the following (the only left-footed CBs I rate to buy atm, and who are even remotely available, whether now (basically none atm) or thsi coming summer 2026): Alessandro Bastoni Murillo Nico Schlotterbeck Jarrad Branthwaite Castello Lukeba Alessandro Buongiorno Honest Ahanor Konstantinos Koulierakis Marcos Senesi Karim Coulibaly Omar Alderete

Be interesting to see if the Arsenal game plays into his selection in regard to likes of James and Fofana.i think it will so going off they won't start I'd go with Sanchez,Acheampong,Chalobah,Badi,Cucurella,Caicedo,Santos,Palmer,Enzo,Gittens,Pedro.

Rosenior Press Conference | Chelsea vs West Ham | Premier League | 30/01/26 | Chelsea FC 25/26 Chelsea Football Club 30 Jan 2026 #Chelsea #ChelseaFC #Football Liam Rosenior faces the media ahead of Chelsea's Premier League match against West Ham United at Stamford Bridge...

If we don't sign Jacquet before the window closes we'll sign him shortly after. It will be good instead of having 3 young cb's all move into the 1st team squad next summer.have 1 get integrated during the rest of this season.2 is probably overkill tho as we don't have many fixtures left where we can get away with giving games to untrusted youth. I see a big overhaul of our defense in the summer.with only Cucurella,Acheampong,Hato,Fofana,James,Colwill and Chalobah remaining out of about 9 or 10 we'll have next season.

LOL! I seriously didn’t even realize I was doing that 🤣

There was a time when it felt like we had 500 attacking midfielders in our team and now it’s going to be CB’s. The Sarr stuff seems like bullshit if we are also still going to push for Jacquet. How does that make any sense?

Anselmino is perfect to replace Badiashile or Fofana.. Able to perform on high level but on and off injured all the time. Btw to ask but you consostently write RoseNOIR, is that genuine mistake or joke? Rosenoir sound like a cheap perfume brand.

strasbourg are out bitch

We are basically stripping Strasbourg naked

I think we will get sarr, jaquet stays at rennes until the end of the season and next season we offload badi maldini ashile and to baresi sin along axel ramos disasi

We should be fucking off Tosin, Badiashile, and Disasi and replacing them with Jacquet and Anselmino. But it’s far too late in the window for most of that to happen now and Rosenoir seems to genuinely rate Badi.

Jacket Potato has to be bought now and not sent back on loan, if he is the so called next big thing then we get him now and he comes in and starts. We look incredibly tender at the back still despite winning in Naples the cracks are still there and basics error are going to keep killing us. Disasi is going to WHU and Sterling's wages are gone, just go and get him and let us see the back of Tosin and Badshit

🔵🗯Jeremy Jacquet only wants Chelsea. Personal terms agreed. Expect developments after both sides have played their matches on Saturday. (@SkySports)

Not like we didn't know already that the owners are making things up as they go along while briefing journos about a grand six-window strategy

We have brought AA back to use him elsewhere, didn't take a genius to work that out, the thing now is, they are trying to whore him out elsewhere after up rooting him where he was doing well and was happy, to now being in a battle of him sitting tight as he doesn't want to fuck off to a no mark French side, I can't blame the fucker in all honesty.

The Anselmino situation is some absolute clown shit. Why the FUCK would we cut his loan short with no plan in place?

💥Chelsea not getting anywhere with Jacquet as it stands, hence the Sarr noise finally coming out as reported days ago. Anselmino saying no could be a problem though. (@SimonPhillips)

Well, this is a bit misleading.. I remember reading a long ass article about Barco late 2023/early 2024, before he joined Brighton as Chelsea was said to be interested by the time too. His role was compared to Joao Cancelo's at City: he was left back at Boca when defending, but when attacking he alway got forward and go inside the midfield, playing key role in build-up plays, he was tayloring the attacks with runs with the balls and long passes. Same as prime Cancelo did for Pep in their treble era. So this "failing everywhere till Rosenior saw something in him which others never had" is a bit false narrative, he utilized Barco very well and used for what he was well known to be capable of. I would be glad if we signed him though, true gem who Brighton wasted, finally not someone we have to buy from that cunt Paul Barber.