Chelsea are preparing to recall Andrey Santos from his loan spell at Nottingham Forest.
That’s according to a recent report from 90min, who claims the Blues are frustrated with the Brazilian’s lack of game time and are now set to terminate his loan spell in January.
Despite agreeing to join Chelsea from Vasco da Gama 12 months ago, Santos, 19, who remained in South America until the summer, has yet to make his debut for the club.
Immediately sent out on loan to Steve Cooper’s Tricky Trees, Santos was expected to play an important role in the club’s fight to avoid relegation. That hasn’t been the case though — the 19-year-old has played just seven minutes in the Premier League and now looks to be heading back to his parent club.
Unlikely to be thrust straight into Mauricio Pochettino’s first-team plans, the future remains relatively uncertain for Santos.
Although the Blues are in talks with Ligue 1 side Strasbourg over a possible temporary winter switch, the teenager’s situation has been complicated even further by sporting rules which mean only seven players at any one time can be out on loan overseas.
Romelu Lukaku, Hakim Ziyech, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Angelo, Gabriel Slonina, David Datro Fofana and Diego Moreira are all currently taking up those seven available spaces, which suggests one of those deals would need to be cancelled in order to allow Santos to move to France.
Santos is a midfielder not a striker!
He fell foul of Forest last minute purchases in midfield in the last window after his loan had been agreed and hasn’t been given the chance to prove himself.
I would recall him and send him to a Premiership side that has several AFCON players so he can show his value in their absence in January / February
Also, I believe players under age of 21 don’t count towards the 7 player rule for loans so Santos, Slonina, Moreira, Fofana and Angelo who are all under 21 surely dont affect the number of players on loan outside England