Chelsea to hijack Andrey Santos from Newcastle and Barcelona

FT Desk

• 1 Dec 2022 11:53 GMT
• 3 min read

Barcelona scouted Vasco da Gama youngster Andrey Santos, Newcastle attempted to hijack the deal, and Chelsea have pulled to the front of the queue to sign the talented midfielder.

The interest in Santos is understandable. Still just 18, he already has 37 senior appearances for Vasco under his belt and is part of Brazil's under-20 set-up, thus playing two years ahead of the curve.

A defensive midfielder, Santos also has an incredible knack for scoring from deep, and scored eight times in Brazil's Serie B in 2022. Barcelona have tagged him as their successor to Sergio Busquets, be he is stylistically more similar to former Barca man Yaya Toure, who played his best football with Manchester City.

READ: Who is Andrey Santos? Barcelona's Brazilian Busquets replacement

Barca's purse strings have been tightened following their group stage exit from the Champions League, though, and Newcastle were ready to nip in, hoping to pair the young Brazilians with Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton in what would be a mouth-watering midfield.

But Chelsea are now set to beat both of them to the punch.

'Advanced talks'

"The 18-year-old, who is likened in Brazil to Newcastle's Bruno Guimaraes, is in advanced talks over a January move after the Blues stole a march on Paris Saint-Germain," reports the Evening Standard's Nizaar Kinsella.

READ: Newcastle try to beat Barcelona to 'Brazilian Busquets' Andrey Santos

"Chelsea co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali encouraged academy director Neil Bath to pursue a deal for Santos as part of his 2030 vision to find overseas talent to lift the level of homegrown players."

Chelsea are planning an assault on Brazilian football over the coming months and years, with Palmeira wonderkid Endrick also recently receiving a tour of the club's training centre at Cobham and meeting with the Blues' veteran Brazil centre-back Thiago Silva.

Santos would improve any team is former Vasco and Lyon star Juninho is to be believed.

"He's not going to be better than me, he's going to be much better than me," he told the Resenha Loading channel on YouTube. "He's a much more complete player. At 18, I didn't play half as much as he does, I'm not ashamed to say that."