Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly has dismissed talk of Andrey Santos leaving the club, emphasizing the midfielder’s worth in Enzo Maresca’s system. Boehly also believes that Santos will feature in the Club World Cup later this year.
Santos has enjoyed his time on loan at Blues’ sister club Strasbourg. Following a poor stint at Nottingham Forest, where he was used only twice, Santos enjoyed ten goals and five assists in France. His display saw him be handed the captain’s armband for a couple of games. He was also included on the roll call of Ligue 1’s best midfielders.
Boehly has certainly been pleased with Santos’ progress. He said, at the Qatar Economic Forum:
“We’re going to the Club World Cup so, right now, we’re laser-focused on the Club World Cup. We have some players that are joining us for the Club World Cup that weren’t on the team.
“Andrey Santos is coming from Strasbourg. We’re really excited about him and what we think he can add to the squad.”
Despite interest from Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain, Boehly’s comments appear to suggest the Blues will retain Santos as a future investment. The Club World Cup will offer the young midfielder a platform to further acclimatise with the first team.
Todd Boehly Concerned About Player Fitness
With Chelsea set to play in the Club World Cup this summer, Todd Boehly has raised concerns about the fitness levels of the players. He admitted that the number of matches had become something of a concern:
“The challenge that we really have is how many matches these guys are playing. The calendar is really tight, they put in so much effort and energy and the injuries are continuing to go up and up and up.
We’re going to have to revisit what the calendar looks like and how much football they can actually play. Obviously, they’re built to play football, they love playing football, so we’re trying to find the balance of what’s the right amount of football.”
Meanwhile, the Blues have the Europa Conference League final against Real Betis coming up in their ultimate match of this season.