Chelsea might keep youngster Andrey Santos in west London next season as Mauricio Pochettino is "impressed" and "super happy" with what he has seen from the Brazilian in preseason, per transfers expert Fabrizio Romano.
Is Andrey Santos staying at Chelsea this summer?
The Blues look like they are finally starting to ease off on their mass selling of players this summer and are instead turning towards bringing new faces into the club and keeping the ones they already have.
The west Londoners have already signed the promising Nicolas Jackson from La Liga outfit Villarreal and look poised to complete the signing of French centre-back Axel Disasi from Monaco as well.
One player that will feel like a new signing to fans is 19-year-old Brazilian Santos, who officially signed for the club back in January before going back on loan to Vasco da Gama for the remainder of the season.
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There was an expectation in some quarters that, given his relative inexperience, he'd be sent out on loan yet again this year, but to somewhere in Europe instead, which might well have been the plan prior to preseason, but it appears that plan could've changed over the last few weeks.
In the four games Pochettino's side have played so far this summer, Santos has started three of them and came on as a substitute in the other, and left a real impression on the new manager, per Fabrizio Romano.
He explained the situation on his YouTube channel, saying:
"Andrey Santos Brazilian update. It's true that there is a lot of interest. More than seven clubs [are] asking for Andrey Santos on loan, the last one was an English club from the Premier League, not a big club, but the English clubs [is] asking for the loan of Andrey Santos.
"Porto in June, Salernita from Italy. We heard rumours, but at the moment, it is not something advanced, why? Because, at the moment, at Chelsea they are very happy with Andrey. Pochettino is super happy, the staff is super happy, and so there is a chance for Andrey Santos to stay in the first team and be part of the Chelsea squad for the season.
"This is not 100% decided yet will be decided in the next days, of course, but Andrey Santos is doing really well, not just in the friendly games but also in training. Pochettino is impressed, and so there is a chance for Andre Santos to stay.
"Again, not 100% decided it will be discussed with his agents, but it's a concrete possibility because he's doing fantastic. Otherwise, there are more than six [or] seven clubs ready to sign him on loan."
Who else have Chelsea been linked to this summer?
With a few new faces already through the doors at Stamford Bridge, who else could be joining the new Pochettino era in west London?
The name that has been touted for a move to the Bridge more than any other this summer – and by quite some way – is that of Moises Caicedo.
It would be fair to say that after having already made a number of offers for the Ecuadorian superstar, he is firmly the Blues' top target this summer, and despite getting rebuffed each of those four times, Chelsea are yet to decide whether they will move on or not, per Sky Sports.
Another deal that looks complete – even if the club themselves haven't confirmed it yet – is the £23m signing of Stade Rennes midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu, per Sky Sports.
The 19-year-old had a strong season for the Ligue 1 outfit last year, starting 14 games, providing one assist, maintaining a passing accuracy of 87.6% and averaging a match rating of 6.48, per WhoScored.
The plan for the youngster may be to send him out on loan straight away, as Pochettino seemed to indicate in a press conference, saying:
"My information is he is a player that is from France that maybe they are signing with the idea to send on some loan, using a different club that information was already in your laptop.
"There is nothing to say too much."
It will be an interesting season for Chelsea this year, especially with how many new faces Pochettino might have to integrate into the team, but who knows, all this change could be exactly what the club need.
