Chelsea will be on the hunt for a new central midfielder when the 2026 summer transfer window rolls around but the Blues should not spend too big in that position
07:00, 18 Feb 2026
Liam Rosenior
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Liam Rosenior has enjoyed an impressive start to life as Chelsea head coach(Image: Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA)
Andrey Santos is loving life under Liam Rosenior at Chelsea and supporters are beginning to see why the club have such high hopes for the midfielder. In his first full season at Stamford Bridge, it was a slow start for Santos under Enzo Maresca.
The 21-year-old made 20 appearances under the former head coach, who departed the club on New Year's Day, but only seven of those came from the start. Rosenior has been in charge of the Blues for 11 games in all competitions at the time of writing and Santos has been involved in nine of those, with seven of those coming from the start.
So in a much shorter period of time, the Brazil international has started the same amount of games than he did under Maresca for the first half of the campaign. Santos worked under Rosenior during his loan spell with sister club Strasbourg last season and flourished while in France.
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Santos finished the 2024/25 season with 11 goals and five assists across all competitions for the BlueCo-owned French club, where he was often playing in the No.10 role under Rosenior. However, in the month or so the pair have worked together at Chelsea, Santos has been occupying a deeper position.
Rosenior has tended to use Santos alongside Moises Caicedo in the centre of Chelsea's midfield, with Enzo Fernandez often the man responsible for playing in the space behind the striker. Either way, Santos has excelled and has quickly established himself as one of the most important players in the Blues setup.
"Andrey, for me, is a magnificent player," Rosenior said earlier this month. "He's a young player who plays way beyond his years. He is what I would call an 'intangibles player', where he does things in games that sometimes people don't see.
"He will, for example, fill a position when the ball is nowhere near him, or he'll make the right pass and two or three passes later we end up with a chance.
"Andrey helps players around him become better players because he's so selfless in the way he plays. He's been top in the games that he's played, and I'm really enjoying working with him again."
Andrey Santos
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Andrey Santos has excelled at Chelsea since Liam Rosenior was appointed head coach(Image: Giuseppe Maffia/NurPhoto)
Ever since Caicedo arrived at Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2024, the midfield has been mostly the Ecuadorian alongside Fernandez, with Cole Palmer quite often the No.10. Rosenior, though, has shaken things up in west London and often uses a midfield two of Santos and Caicedo. And it looks far more balanced for Chelsea.
It allows Fernandez to push further forward and Palmer then in turn gets pushed out to the wing. But we saw perhaps the best version of Cole Palmer when used from the right-hand side during his time under Mauricio Pochettino.
Chelsea are set to scour the transfer market in the summer and address a number of positions. The centre of midfield is one of them, with Romeo Lavia hardly ever available and Dario Essugo having a difficult debut season, injury-wise, for the Blues.
Santos' form, however, means there is less onus on Chelsea going out there and spending enormous money to try and make an immediate impact on the first team. Instead, the Blues should go out and look for someone who has the potential to grow into that player, but can act, for his first years at Stamford Bridge anyway, as a rotation option.
Adam Wharton is someone who has been on the club's radar for a while now as he continues to impress at Crystal Palace. It is widely believed that the England international will depart Selhurst Park in the summer transfer window, with Chelsea one of the multiple clubs linked with a move for the midfielder. The Eagles are said to be demanding north of £80million for Wharton's signature.
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Elliot Anderson of Nottingham Forest has also been linked but would likely require Chelsea to spend something similar to the £80million quoted for Wharton. There is no doubting another midfielder is needed but such money would be better off spent elsewhere within the Chelsea squad, especially with Santos' ever-growing significance in Rosenior's team.
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