On Friday, reports from Brazil emerged stating that Barcelona are interested in signing Chelsea youngster Andrey Santos, and that talks were underway with both the club and the player’s representatives.
According to Lucas Pedrosa, Xavi Hernandez has approved a deal for Santos, who only joined Chelsea back in January from Vasco da Gama. He feels that the Brazilian international could be a possible long-term Sergio Busquets replacement.
Deco é um admirador do futebol do atleta. Xavi já deu o aval e entende que o volante tem potencial para substituir Busquets a longo prazo.
O Vasco tem direito a cerca de 2,5% do mecanismo de solidariedade em caso de transferência em definitivo.
📸: Chelsea/Divulgação
— Lucas Pedrosa (@pedrosa) July 7, 2023
Despite this, Fabrizio Romano has appeared to pour cold water on any possible negotiations, for the time being at least. He has reported that Chelsea are not currently in negotiations with any clubs regarding Santos.
Chelsea are currently NOT negotiating with any club for Andrey Santos 🔵🇧🇷
Despite lot of interest from many clubs in Europe, there are no concrete talks or advanced negotiations at this stage.
Pochettino wants to see him in pre season.
Directors believe he’s the future. pic.twitter.com/JHCfe5qQ8J
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 7, 2023
The Chelsea hierarchy believe that Santos will be one of their star players in the future, which suggests that they won’t look to sell him this summer. He won’t leave imminently anyway, as new head coach Mauricio Pochettino wants to run the rule over him during pre-season.
Barcelona are certainly considering the possibility of signing a young pivot to act as understudy to Oriol Romeu, who is their first choice to replace Busquets this summer. It remains to be seen whether they can sort out a deal for Santos.
