Chelsea may be set to lose N'Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic this summer, but they could well already have a ready-made replacement of sorts in 19-year-old prodigy Andrey Santos.
What is the latest with Chelsea's Brazilian midfielder Andrey Santos?
Between splashing out huge sums to sign Enzo Fernandez, Mykhaylo Mudryk, Benoit Badiashile and Noni Madueke in the January transfer window, the Blues also confirmed the signing of relatively unknown youngster Santos.
Brought in for an undisclosed fee, though to be in the region of £18m, Santos was denied the chance to make any sort of impact in the second half of the 2022/23 season as he was unable to obtain a work permit.
However, as reported by the Evening Standard, the teenager has now been given the green light to begin training for Chelsea. It is claimed in the report that new head coach Mauricio Pochettino, a man known for giving youngsters a chance, is ready to cast a close eye on the Brazilian during pre-season.
Can Andrey Santos be an instant hit at Chelsea?
Santos' short career to date has been spent exclusively with Vasco da Gama, where he returned in March for three months after being blocked from representing Chelsea.
The young Brazilian caught the eye from a young age at Vasco, scoring eight goals in 33 Brasileiro Serie B games in 2022. Santos' reputation would further grow at the South American U-20 Championship, with the Rio native captaining Brazil to an undefeated title triumph and finishing as joint-top scorer with six goals.
As pointed out by The Athletic reporter Simon Johnson, "it was very smart of [Chelsea] to get a deal done" prior to the tournament taking place, with his fee only set to rise further on the back of his starring displays.
Santos arrives at Premier League heavyweights Chelsea at a point in which replacements are being sought for Kovacic and Kante, who have been linked with Manchester City and Saudi Arabian champions Al-Ittihad.
Kante barely featured for Chelsea last season due to injury, but Kovacic started 33 times in all competitions – the same number of starts Santos managed last year with Vasco.
While the quality of the two leagues must be factored in, the statistics give an indication of what Chelsea can expect from Santos, who differs from Kovacic in some areas but is similar in others.
For example, Santos averaged 0.25 direct goal involvements per 90 last year, as per FBref, compared to 0.12 for Kovacic. The former is far more accurate with his shots, finding the target 36.2% of the time, which is an increase on Kovacic's return of 9.4%.
Santos won 1.97 tackles per 90, compared to 1.11 for Kovacic, while they were alike for interceptions per 90 – 0.83 v 0.87.
As he has shown for Brazil U20, Santos – who Lyon legend Juninho Pernambucano hailed as "complete" and dubbed a "monster" – is confident with carrying the ball forward and is capable of putting it in the net, which is further highlighted by his aforementioned goal return last term.
While he may lack the experience of Kovacic, who is a decade older, Santos has all the qualities to quickly win over Chelsea supporters in what they will hope is a brighter future than last season suggested.
If anyone can develop a promising talent into a first-team star, then it's certainly Pochettino and it seems like Santos will stand a good chance of being involved come the start of the 2023/24 campaign.