Andrey Santos: What’s going on with his loan from Chelsea to Nottingham Forest
https://theathletic.com/4925498/2023/10/04/andrey-santos-forest-Chelsea-loan/
In the final 30 minutes of Nottingham Forest’s 1-1 draw with Brentford on Sunday, Chelsea loanee Andrey Santos was spotted by home supporters leaving the substitutes’ bench at the City Ground and disappearing down the tunnel. The reason for his early exit might have been innocuous — professional footballers visit the bathroom like everyone else — but given the circumstances, it was never going to be interpreted that way.
More than a month into his season-long loan spell from Stamford Bridge, Santos is still waiting to make his Premier League debut for Forest. He has appeared just once, starting a Carabao Cup defeat against Burnley on August 30. He did not even make Steve Cooper’s matchday squad for Forest’s trip to Manchester City on September 23.
It would be understandable if the 19-year-old feels frustrated. That is certainly the mood among many Chelsea fans who were excited by the talent Santos showed this summer, both on the club’s pre-season tour of the United States and as Brazil’s captain at the Under-20 World Cup in Argentina.
There are already calls for Chelsea to recall him in January, which the club could do by activating a break clause in the loan agreement. Forest also incur mutually-agreed financial penalties for not playing Santos when he is fit. But, at this stage, it is simply a situation to monitor and Chelsea are in regular contact with Forest, Cooper and the Brazilian to provide support.
Santos’ slow start must be placed in proper context. Forest have played five Premier League matches since the loan move was finalised. The first, a 3-2 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford, was the day after his arrival was announced. The second was away at parent club Chelsea, a fixture for which he was ineligible.
Concern has spiked in the last three matches. Santos was an unused substitute at home to Burnley in the Premier League on September 18, with Cooper instead turning to Ryan Yates when replacing Orel Mangala in the second half. After being left out entirely against City the following weekend, he watched Morgan Gibbs-White and Cheikhou Kouyate deployed as Forest’s midfield reinforcements from the bench against Brentford.
It is very possible that Santos will feature more prominently against Crystal Palace on Saturday, particularly since Forest’s injury list now features midfielders Yates, Danilo and Nicolas Dominguez. Cooper, who led England Under-17s to World Cup glory in 2017, is also highly regarded within the game as a developer of young talent — he helped Cobham graduates Conor Gallagher and Marc Guehi during his time as coach of Swansea City.
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There is no suggestion of any issue between Cooper and Santos, and the example of Danilo may prove more instructive of how this loan spell develops. Signed by Forest from Brazilian champions Palmeiras in a deal worth around £18million in January, the 22-year-old did not become a regular starter for Forest in the Premier League until April, as he adapted to a new country, team and level of competition.
Santos arrived in England to more fanfare than Danilo, given his status as Brazil Under-20s captain, but he had considerably less senior experience. His professional body of work before joining Chelsea in January comprised of one full season for Vasco da Gama in the second division in his homeland, subsequently burnished with six top-flight appearances when he rejoined his former club on loan for the second half of last season.
Chelsea had no shortage of clubs interested in taking Santos on loan for 2023-24, with Porto, Benfica and Lyon some of the more high-profile suitors. Forest’s appeal lay in their offer of Premier League football and Cooper’s record of youth development. The fact that their squad contains a growing enclave of Brazilians did not hurt their chances of acquiring a 19-year-old who had recently arrived in England with limited English.
Then there was the fact that Chelsea’s seven international loan spots were squeezed by the failure to sell Romelu Lukaku and Hakim Ziyech — who would go out on international loans instead — and the decision to loan Kepa Arrizabalaga to Real Madrid. Within that context, Forest’s offer of a domestic loan for Santos made sense — but if this agreement does not work out as hoped, conversation at Cobham should linger on other factors that may have been underestimated.
One is that Santos did not join Forest until the final week of August. That was primarily because Chelsea spent much of the summer window not knowing if they would sign both Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia, but it meant the 19-year-old missed all of Cooper’s pre-season, immediately putting him below the club’s established midfield options in the pecking order.
Another is that, after securing Santos, Forest went out and spent a combined £37million to sign two other central midfielders — Dominguez from Bologna and Ibrahim Sangare from PSV Eindhoven — on transfer deadline day. Suddenly Santos’ path to Premier League minutes was made much more difficult.
Perhaps that should have been a bigger consideration, in light of the fact that Forest’s appetite for recruitment since their promotion to the Premier League has rivalled that of Chelsea under Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital; 29 players arrived at the City Ground on loan deals or permanent transfers last season, and Santos was one of 13 faces brought in this summer.
There is still plenty of time for Santos to force his way into Cooper’s team and establish himself as a key contributor for Forest, perhaps in the coming weeks. Chelsea will be watching closely, because he is too promising a talent to stagnate on the fringes of another Premier League squad.
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