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Andrey Santos will return to Chelsea this summer with a view to breaking into Mauricio Pochettino’s first team next season.
The 19-year-old joined the Blues from Vasco de Gama in January but returned to the club on loan after failing to qualify for a work permit in England.
But Santos’ appearances for Brazil at the Under-20 World Cup in Argentina, in addition to making his senior international debut, means he is now eligible for a work permit and have confirmed that Chelsea intend to bring him back to the club this summer.
A recent change in the guidelines for earning a work permit meant that Santos was likely to return to Chelsea anyway, but the intention is not for him to return to Stamford Bridge just to make up the numbers.
The teenager will instead be given a chance to prove himself under the management of new head coach Mauricio Pochettino, who was named as the permanent successor to Graham Potter at the end of May.
Pochettino is tasked with resurrecting Chelsea’s fortunes after a desperately disappointing first season of the Todd Boehly-led Clearlake Capital era. The Blues finished 12th in the Premier League, losing 16 of their 38 games, and scored just 38 goals to finish with a negative goal difference of nine.
They fared a little better in the Champions League before being convincingly eliminated by Real Madrid in the quarter-finals, but had already moved onto their fourth manager of the season by that point.
Thomas Tuchel was sacked in September last year after Chelsea crashed to a shock Champions League defeat to Dinamo Zagreb, while his replacement Graham Potter lasted less than seven months in the job. His assistant Bruno Saltor took charge of one game before club legend Frank Lampard was brought back to the club on a caretaker basis – he ended up losing eight of his 11 games in charge.
Santos is a player Chelsea signed for the future but he could be given a chance to shine in the first team as Pochettino looks to trim an overly bloated squad.
Mateo Kovacic, N’Golo Kante, Conor Gallagher, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Mason Mount could all be leaving this summer, though the club are actively pursuing Brighton’s Moises Caicedo and hold a strong interest in West Ham captain Declan Rice.
A former central defender and player of futsal, Santos has played 47 games for Vasco de Gama and has scored nine goals.
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