One of Chelsea’s potential future stars is closer to playing for the first team, giving Mauricio Pochettino and the club a huge boost going into preseason.
Andrey Santos, a teenage Brazilian star who signed for £16 million in January, has been forced to make do with making an impact with his country’s Under-20 team and returning to former club Vasco Da Gama since he was unable to obtain a British visa. The player has already made a huge step towards realizing his dream with intentions to incorporate him in Pochettino’s team moving ahead.
Santos, who led his nation at the Under-20 World Cup in Argentina, has just ended his season. He scored twice in the last-16 and provided an assist in the quarterfinal loss as they lost to the hosts by a slim margin of 3-2. He received his first senior team call-up as well, making his debut against Morocco in March.
He was being pursued by Barcelona and other major European nations at the age of 19, and is one of the most promising young players in the world at his position. The club did had hopes to add him right away under Graham Potter over the winter, but they suffered a setback when his visa application was turned down.
Santos, on the other hand, went back to South America and kept playing with Vasco Da Gama. Despite Potter’s departure, Pochettino has high expectations for the player and is likely to offer him opportunities to compete for a berth in the first team for the 2023–24 season.
Santos, who joined the company six months ago and has advanced significantly in his professional career, now has some encouraging news to share after learning that his visa application has been granted. Even if it seems to be a US visa, it is still a significant improvement.
The South American visa advisory page Vel Visa Vistos published a photo of Santos on Instagram with the message “[Translated] Approved visa.”
The photograph was later uploaded by the 19-year-old himself, who wrote: “[Translated] Thank you for all the insight and quickness! strongly suggest.”
He seems to be referring to the consulting firm, and Chelsea would likely be pleased with the choice given that they will be visiting the United States this summer for preseason. Mason Mount, Mateo Kovacic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, and possibly Conor Gallagher are among the midfielders that the club is preparing to trade. If they go, along with N’Golo Kante, the midfield will be lacking options.
Chelsea has made Moises Caicedo, a 21-year-old midfielder for Brighton, a top priority this summer and is currently the favourite to sign him. They allegedly begged West Ham to postpone their decision over Declan Rice in order to make a sizable offer to the England star after offloading their own players.
Santos’ most recent news is very encouraging, and he is now getting closer to being available for the Blues. The player now appears to be prepared to play in the Premier League next season. He narrowly fell short of completing the FA system’s requirements for a visa by one point, but now that he has made his international debut and has a higher ranking, he can add further achievements to his application.
Additionally, the Premier League and EFL are debating a new regulation that would change FA plans to let them acquire four foreign players each season who do not currently have visas. It will reward teams who provide English players who are homegrown playing time.