Manchester United can take advantage of Chelsea’s bloated squad and sign an absolute gem this summer, potentially for cheap.
Ever since Todd Boehly took the reins of Chelsea Football Club, they have been almost stockpiling talents from around the globe.
Kendry Paez, Estevao, Geovany Quenda and others have signed their careers away to the Stamford Bridge outfit, despite prospects of ever playing a meaningful role looking slim due to the sheer amount of competition.
Now, after seeing this happen over the past couple of years, now it is becoming an issue with too many players expecting to play a first team role, which could benefit Manchester United.
With Chelsea’s continuing interest in Alejandro Garancho, there are plenty of talented footballers that Ineos could bring up in negotiations, with Christopher Nkunku being one.
United asked about Josh Acheampong during Garnacho talks back in January, but this summer there is an incredibly talented Brazilian midfielder who may be available and ready to join Matheus Cunha at Old Trafford.
Andrey Santos in training wearing bib for Chelsea.
Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Manchester United should offer Andrey Santos an escape route
Chelsea are currently partaking in the Club World Cup over in the United States of America, where they have won one and lost one in the group stages, all while Brazilian Andrey Santos is yet to play a single minute.
The 21-year-old signed for Chelsea in 2023 from Vasco da Gama in Brazil, yet has yet to make a single appearance, spending the past 18 months on loan with Strasbourg.
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Here, he has quietly become of the best midfielders in Ligue 1, among the leaders in the league for almost every metric imaginable compared with other midfielders.
Andrey Santos 2024-25 Ligue 1 stats for Strasbourg
Stat # Percentile
Goals 10 100th
Assists 3 81st
Successful passes 1,400 93rd
Pass accuracy 88.6% 79th
Long pass accuracy 66.7% 69th
Chances created 27 84th
Successful dribbles 18 83rd
Tackles won 74 100th
Tackles won % 67.3% 74th
Duels won 228 98th
Duels won % 66.7% 96th
Aerial duels won 40 96th
Aerial duels won % 60.6% 79th
Interceptions 32 86th
Blocks 12 93rd
Recoveries 188 97th
Possession won final third 16 90th
Santos is so well rounded and can do it all in a midfield despite being just 21, which makes it insane that he finds himself almost surplus to requirements at Chelsea.
But Ineos can use this to their advantage. United want to sign a midfielder this summer, but don’t have the money to spend big, so if Santos is available for somewhere around £30m, it would be an excellent addition and arguably an immediate improvement to the starting line-up for Ruben Amorim.
Brazil manager Carlo Ancelotti gives Santos seal of approval
It isn’t just the statistics which make a compelling argument for Santos to be signed this summer as the partner for Bruno Fernandes, but legendary manager Carlo Ancelotti is also an admitted fan.
Speaking earlier this month during his first international break as Brazil manager, Ancelotti called up Santos and even singled the youngster out for praise, as quoted by Ginga Bonito.
“Andrey [Santos] has a lot of quality. I didn’t know much about him but from what I saw this week, he is a complete midfielder.”
🎙️CARLO ANCELOTTI:
“Andrey [Santos] has a lot of quality. I didn’t know much about him but from what I saw this week, he is a COMPLETE midfielder.” 🇧🇷💪🏽 pic.twitter.com/ALL3RNIid2
— Ginga Bonito 🇧🇷 (@GingaBonitoHub) June 4, 2025
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Ancelotti is one of the greatest of all time, so if he says a player has it all, it’s safe to assume he is spot on. So poaching Santos from Chelsea would be genius, we just hope United’s footballing department have the same idea.