Chelsea have agreed to send midfielder Andrey Santos on loan to the French club RC Strasbourg until the end of the season.
A report from the club’s official website confirms that the 19-year-old Brazilian midfielder will head to France in order to continue his development with regular football in the French league.
Santos was on loan at Premier League club Nottingham Forest during the first half of the season but he struggled for opportunities. He needs to play regularly at this stage of his career and the decision to bring him back to the club and send him out on loan to France could prove to be a superb one.
The 19-year-old cannot afford to sit on the bench regularly at this stage of his career. Santos is a prodigious talent with a big future ahead of him and Chelsea will have to handle his development carefully.
The midfielder has the tools to develop into a key first team player for the Blues with the right guidance.
Santos is currently captaining the under-23 Brazilian national team at the CONMEBOL pre-Olympic tournament in Venezuela. He has excelled at various youth levels for Brazil in recent years and he will be hoping to establish himself as a key player for club and country in the coming seasons.
There is no doubt that he has the talent and technical attributes to establish himself as a key player for Chelsea. He needs to gain some first team experience now and the loan move to Ligue 1 could prove to be an exciting opportunity for him.
It will be interesting to see if he can start regularly for the Ligue 1 outfit until the end of the season and return to Chelsea as a better player in the summer.
If he manages to impress with the French club in the coming months, Mauricio Pochettino might be more open to give him him first team opportunities at Stamford Bridge next season.
