Manchester United’s Andrey Santos is an ‘exemplary player’. Can he be a Premier League star?

When Ramon Menezes took interim charge of Brazil’s senior team in 2023, he had no doubt that Andrey Santos was ready for a bigger stage.

“He was already playing and behaving like an elite professional, regardless of his age,” Menezes says, reflecting on his decision to hand a senior debut to an 18-year-old Santos — who was captain of the under-20 national side Menezes coached. “He was the (under-20) team’s linchpin.

“I was absolutely convinced that the weight of the yellow shirt would not intimidate him.”

After moving on from Brazilian club Vasco da Gama to stints with Nottingham Forest, Strasbourg, and Chelsea, Santos is now carrying the weight of a famous red shirt. In July, the 22-year-old signed for Manchester United in a deal worth up to £50million after only one season at Stamford Bridge, and having played less than 1,300 Premier League minutes.

It was a surprise move, and an understated one in this summer’s midfield market. United were previously interested in Elliot Anderson and Mateus Fernandes, who ended up joining Manchester City for £116m and Tottenham Hotspur for £85m respectively. Chelsea set an asking price of £120m for Santos’ former team-mate Enzo Fernandez. Bruno Guimaraes joined champions Arsenal from Newcastle United for £75m.

Casemiro has departed as a free agent, Manuel Ugarte may have been sold and is now injured, and Toby Collyer is in line for either a permanent or loan exit. As The Athletic’s David Ornstein revealed on Wednesday, United are closing in on the signing of Brighton & Hove Albion’s Carlos Baleba, who Santos may be competing against for minutes at the base of midfield.

Baleba’s higher price tag, and his greater Premier League experience compared to Santos, would seem to line him up as first-choice. However, Baleba is currently recovering from an ankle ligament injury (which is not expected to keep him out long-term) whereas Santos has had most of the summer to bed into the squad. He looks almost certain to start United’s season opener at Hull City on Saturday, and a return to the Champions League presents the opportunity for the two to compete properly for the starting berth given a higher volume of fixtures.

After a stop-start Premier League career so far, is Santos ready for a leading role?

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“I saw the potential for him to move to the Premier League or another European league,” says Igor Henriques Guerra, who coached Santos at Vasco da Gama in 2021 and 2022 in the club’s under-17 and under-20 teams. “There was a lot going for him. Firstly, his mentality — his mindset was that of a professional, of always wanting to improve and wanting to give his all on the pitch.

“In terms of leadership, he was always an exemplary player. He really was a role model. He was a player who guided his team-mates on the pitch.”

Guerra describes Santos as “cheerful”, “a player who is always on good terms with everyone”.

“Here in Brazil we say “zoar” or “tirar sarro” — to joke around or to poke fun at one another. So he always used to keep the atmosphere cheerful and light-hearted, but when it came to work, he was always giving his all and pushing for more every training session.”

Menezes did not work with Santos directly at Vasco da Gama (where he used to play, and returned as an assistant coach and head coach), but saw him in the youth ranks and, once put in charge of the Brazil under-20 team, included Santos from his first squad selection.

“Right from the very first training camp, he was given the captain’s armband, thanks to the example he set in terms of technical and tactical dedication,” Menezes tells The Athletic over messages. “He has excellent control of the ball, impressive tactical maturity combined with a natural leadership spirit.”

In 2021, aged 16, Santos became the youngest player to make his senior debut for Vasco in the 21st century (a record later broken by Bournemouth’s Rayan).

“He made our work as coaches easy,” Guerra says. “He understood the game so well — the little details we highlighted, the tactics we discussed, the things we explained — that whenever a team-mate was doing something that didn’t meet the required standards, he’d offer guidance himself.”

It tallies with Michael Carrick’s assessment of the 22-year-old in conversation with journalists last week. “Andrey, for such a young man to come in the way he’s come in, his character, his personality is a dream,” Carrick said. “He’s so positive, so mature, so switched on; he wants to learn. He comes in straight away and he’s trying to help other players and communicate in games.”

Santos’ football intelligence, Guerra says, translated on the pitch. “He’s so good at reading the game, so I see that as his main strength; how well he manages to take in information and put it into practice.

“He understood what we were asking of him, and he often carried it out with great ease. He’s a player who’s very good at mapping out his surroundings. He’s constantly turning his head from side to side, constantly scanning.

“So he’s very good at deciding what to do, where to position himself and what to do the moment the ball comes his way. A lot of the time he has already decided what he’s going to do by the time the ball arrives.

“That allows him to take a very good first touch, immediately turning away from the opponent. He manages to find good through balls; he’s very positive in playing forward passes through the lines, then he can receive it again straight away and position himself to combine with one-twos.”

“Andrey has an impressive ability to play the ball out from the back,” Menezes adds, “with vertical passes that break through the opposition’s lines with excellent precision; he shows intelligence in receiving the ball in dangerous areas, and when he wins the ball back, he initiates the attacking transition by dribbling or playing quick, vertical passes.”

Both coaches also highlight how he can contribute in the final third. At the under-20 South American Championship in February 2023, shortly after signing for Chelsea, Santos captained Brazil to the title. He finished as joint top scorer in the competition with six goals, alongside team-mate Vitor Roque.

After initially playing as a defensive midfielder at Vasco, Guerra says, “We came to understand his ability, his quality and his capacity to help the team further up the pitch. We started encouraging Andrey to try to crash the box.

“He was a midfielder who only distributed the ball and looked to break through the opposition defence from deep, which was excellent for the team, but we noticed that he wasn’t scoring many goals or making late runs into the area, so we started encouraging him to do just that.

“He started racking up more assists and scoring more goals from the base of midfield. He managed to carry that form into the professional game, as was the case at Vasco, before moving straight on to Europe.”

Santos played an instrumental role in Vasco’s promotion to the Brazilian top flight in the 2022 season, starting 33 of their 38 games and scoring eight goals. He signed for Chelsea in January 2023, but it took time for his European career to take shape.

He was loaned first back to Vasco, and then to Nottingham Forest for the 2023-24 season — but was recalled in January after appearing only twice. It was a loan to Chelsea’s fellow BlueCo-owned club Strasbourg that unlocked him. Santos became a constant starter, bolstering his box-crashing reputation with 10 league goals in 2024-25, and then-manager Liam Rosenior entrusted him with the captaincy on occasion.

Eighteen months after his initial signing, Santos was fully integrated with Chelsea’s first-team squad from the Club World Cup in 2025. Chelsea’s season was chaotic; Santos’, possibly as a result, fluctuated.

In the summer, Enzo Maresca said he preferred Santos in a more attacking than defensive role due to the physical demands of the Premier League. However, he only started four Premier League matches before Maresca’s departure in January. Despite Chelsea’s awful second half of the season, it was when reunited with Liam Rosenior and placed in a deeper role, often alongside Moises Caicedo, that he enjoyed significantly more minutes and improved performances.

Guerra and Menezes agree on Santos’ adaptability, which they attribute to his intelligence and understanding of the game — but differ on his best role.

“Right now, I’d prefer to use him as a No 8,” Guerra says. “He’s a player who contributes both in defence and attack, rather than as a No 6, where he’d be too static.”

“Andrey has the potential to establish himself among the elite of football and become a key player for the Brazilian national team,” Menezes says. “However, for that to happen, I think his position needs to be clarified. I see Andrey as a defensive midfielder.”

Competing with Caicedo and Reece James, both of whom recently signed new long-term deals at Chelsea, could have complicated Santos’ path to a regular starting role. He moved to Old Trafford as their first midfield signing of a much-touted rebuild, with the holding midfield position up for grabs after Casemiro’s departure.

That is where he has played in United’s six pre-season friendlies, with Youri Tielemans, Kobbie Mainoo, and, when available, Mason Mount competing for a more advanced No 8-style role. Baleba’s signing would provide competition, but considering United’s heavy fixture schedule and the fact the Cameroon international will not be available from the off, Santos has ample opportunity to make his case for a starting spot.

Is he ready?

“He must always remain alert and continue to improve in certain areas,” Menezes says. “In England, the time to think and react to a dribble or a counter-attack is minimal. You must always think on your feet.”

There were a handful of costly moments in a Chelsea shirt. On his first league start against Brighton & Hove Albion in September, Santos’ heavy touch allowed two attackers through on goal, panicking Trevoh Chalobah into a last-man challenge that saw him sent off. He also seemingly failed to track Zian Flemming’s run for Burnley’s equaliser from a corner at Stamford Bridge in February. These sort of errors, which it should be said were infrequent, ought to lessen as he gains further experience.

There are other areas where Santos can round out his game. “As a defensive midfielder, he needs to balance his attacking instincts and improve his long passing,” Menezes says. Guerra recalls longer-range passing as an area for development during his time with Santos, too, as well as finishing, particularly from outside the box.

“I did see some limitations with his physical condition,” Guerra adds. “It’s something he improved on and overcame, but not here in Brazil. It took a while.”

Santos is not as decorated as Casemiro when he arrived at Old Trafford, nor as experienced as fellow summer signings Tielemans or, should he join, Baleba. He will need patience at times, and having Baleba as another option ought to benefit United in a season with European football. But Guerra and Menezes believe he deserves Carrick’s confidence.

“A player like Andrey Santos responds very well when given responsibility,” Menezes says. “Giving him a say in ball distribution and tactical organisation boosts his confidence.”

“Every player needs to feel confidence from their manager,” Guerra says. “When a player sees that the coach has confidence in them, when they are not so concerned about making a mistake but are thinking about the positive contributions they can make to the team, I see that as the first key to any player’s performance. So I want that for Andrey.

“I believe that United can now get the best out of Andrey by getting him more involved in play. He’s a player who reads the game well; he positions himself very well in open spaces, so if the team looks to find Andrey in those pockets they’ll be able to create real problems for the opposition.”

Santos is not the marquee signing many United fans envisaged. But the message from two of those who have coached him is clear: trust him.