There is no doubt that Andrei Santos is a top footballer and has a great future, but I wonder if that will happen at Chelsea as well.
Several quotes from Santos this week got me thinking and wondering. He’s picked up a block in front of him at Chelsea, and that block isn’t coming off any time soon.
Santos has revealed that it was his decision to go on loan last summer and that it was Chelsea who wanted to keep him.
“Chelsea wanted me to stay last season and it was my decision to go and play,” Santos said in an interview with Fora do Jogo on YouTube.
“I did very well in pre-season, but seeing Enzo (Fernández) and (Moises) Caicedo there, I wanted to play and get some time. So, my family and I decided to take out a loan.”
Can you imagine if he had stayed that way? This season must have been a real waste for him.
So why is this season different?
Enzo and Caicedo aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, right? And they won’t rest too often. Both players cost the club more than £100m and any manager would essentially have to play both players often.
Enzo is 23 years old and Caicedo is 22 years old, and both are on long-term contracts.
Then there’s Romeo Lavia and Conor Gallagher. Rabia is only 20 years old and has a long-term contract at Chelsea. He spent most of last season injured, but SPTC Sources have heard from his camp that he will prepare for pre-season and is in top condition ahead of the new season, hoping he can stay in perfect shape to become the important player Enzo Maresca sees as a part of him. He is tactically building a new setup.
So where does Santos fit in? Does he only play cup games? Would that be enough? Can you honestly see that Enzo, Caicedo, and Labia are resting in Europe, unlike in previous easy games? Despite being in a conference league, Chelsea want to win the title and their manager will have to do his best to do so. Players will want to play there.
Chelsea also desperately want to qualify for the Champions League this season, for financial reasons above all else.
Domestic cups could provide more playing time for players like Santos, but if he stays, that won’t be enough for a rising star at 20 years old (ironically the same age as Rabia). That would be a wasted season for development. Very similar to what happened to Kani Chukwuemeka (he also had a lot of injuries). We are currently signing Omari Kellyman from Aston Villa for a ridiculous fee of £19 million. He plays in the same position as Chukwuemeka and is the best player in the same space. What do you think? What happens to Karns now?
We can’t put these young players in our team and give them odd minutes in domestic cups. That’s not enough, and Santos’ quote and decision last summer literally proved that. They want to run, and they have to run. And this brings us to the broader issue of recruiting all this top young talent.
How many of them will actually play for Chelsea or have a future here? Yeah, it would be great to then sell them for a profit, which is what we’re trying to do with Omari Hutchinson at the moment. SPTC Sources say we are pushing £30m to sell him this summer, but surely there needs to be a pathway for players like Santos? But there is no way. It’s definitely blocked.
Maybe selling Gallagher could provide Santos with more opportunities and more opportunities this season, but it’s unclear at the moment whether that will actually happen. And should that happen anyway? I know many of you want to keep Gallagher and think selling him would be foolish.
But Santos’ comments have me a little worried and made me look a little closer at the broader issue of signing all these top young prospects. I know Chelsea want two top players in every position in the first-team squad and there is certainly an advantage to that. Most top clubs do that. And yes, any top club will face a lot of competition for places. Success requires deep options. If a player truly supports you, you should believe in his abilities and remain in his squad, right? Fighting for space? If I’m good at it, will they let me play? The emergence of Michael Olise would also place question marks over many of the young right wingers we’ve signed recently. But that’s another debate.
If he’s good enough, he might get played, but it’s a different story when he’s playing in at least 90% of games alongside three players the club spent more than £250 million on signing. So what are the chances of getting ahead of that player? Think about it.
I wonder what decisions Santos and his advisors will make this season. Will Maresca give him game time? Perhaps the club will give him enough confidence. But can they really keep their promise there? I highly doubt it.
I know this is the case for many of Chelsea’s current players and Santos as well, and while Chelsea’s approach of signing so many youth players seems unsustainable from a morale and squad perspective, it may be financially and profitably sustainable.
I know we want to sign the best players before they become too expensive, and maybe that’s a wise thing to do. But everything needs to be balanced, and players need to see their path. I haven’t even mentioned our academy in this article, which is another big problem. We can’t just say if they’re good enough, they’ll succeed. It’s much more complicated than that. Everything has to be about balance, and there’s a lack of balance in everything about Chelsea’s current operation.
