Newcastle United want to bring in midfield reinforcements in January and have identified the Chelsea player Andrey Santos as a potential target.
A report from TEAMtalk has claimed that Newcastle United summer signing Sandro Tonali faces the prospect of a lengthy ban following his involvement in a betting scandal. The Magpies will need alternatives in that case and have identified Andrey Santos as a candidates.
Santos is currently on loan at Nottingham Forest from Chelsea. But he has struggled for regular game time since arriving at City Ground. The 19-year-old South American is highly rated and he has a big future ahead of him. However, he needs to play more often in order to fulfil his potential.
A move to Newcastle United could be ideal if the Premier League side are willing to promise him game time. It is evident that the loan move to Forest has not worked out so far. It will be interesting to see if Chelsea are willing to cut short his loan spell at Forest and send him out to Newcastle in order to gain some valuable first-team experience.
Meanwhile, the report claims that Newcastle could look to make a move for Kalvin Phillips and Scott McTominay as well. The 26-year-old Scottish international and the English international have struggled for regular gametime as well and could be a useful options for Newcastle.
Ideally, the Magpies will hope that Tonali does not face a lengthy ban. The 23-year-old has hit the ground running after completing a big money move from AC Milan. So, his absence will certainly be a big blow for the Tyneside outfit.
While Andrey Santos is a talented young player, he is certainly not as developed as Tonali. In addition, there will be complications landing the Chelsea loanee, considering Newcastle already have Lewis Hall on loan from the West London club. So, it is highly unlikely that he will be able to replace the 23-year-old Italian international adequately.
It will be interesting to see how they deal with the complex situation in the coming months. They could look to sign Hall permanently and then complete a loan deal for Andrey Santos if they are really desperate about signing the 19-year-old midfielder during the January transfer window.
