Andrey Santos | 2026/27 Performances

tenpoless said:
So why did chelsea let him go again...? For 50 million as well. Crazy considering they amount they have splashed on players i dont think they had to sell..
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Others answered already but Caicedo and Enzo were starting games + believe Reece James played as midfielder as well. Can't sell Lavia because of his injuries so decided to take money for Santos. Hopefully he'll be better signing from Chelsea than Mata, Matić and Mount (first two were decent but not as good as we hoped, Mount constantly injured).
 
Santos is making passes that I can't see on a screen. It's crazy to watch.

I remember how many people were crying about missing out on Fernandes & Anderson the whole season.

I'm glad we have this guy that can show that the recruitment team is taking us a step forward and that fans including myself know f all about football compared to these professionals.

IThe last 2 transfer windows have been mint and its obvious we are going to sign more quality players that doesnt have to hurt us financially.
 
He’s so good. Think the game was almost 30 minutes old when he first misplaced a pass. And he gets on the ball constantly. Plus he’s not just popping the ball back and sideways. Always looks to progress the ball. I think this guy is going to be one of our best post-Fergie signings. Just needs some luck with injuries.
 
I was most impressed when Lammens popped a couple of short passes in to him when he had a man pressing right against him and he just swept the ball first time to Dalot on the right. Many of our players have been caught out with that exact movement before so it was refreshing to see a player so comfortable just popping it about.

Looks a real steal so far but of course being young he will still have his ups and downs.
 
He's ridiculously progressive. We've all seen those players who jog around the centre popping it back and forward with the defenders and their midfield partner, this guy takes responsibility for getting the ball forward all the time. You can see why his progression stats were so high. He's decent at stepping in and knicking the ball away too amd starting counters. Great player to have at our disposal
 
Adamsk7 said:
I was most impressed when Lammens popped a couple of short passes in to him when he had a man pressing right against him and he just swept the ball first time to Dalot on the right. Many of our players have been caught out with that exact movement before so it was refreshing to see a player so comfortable just popping it about.

Looks a real steal so far but of course being young he will still have his ups and downs.
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Always seems to have a picture in his head. Also liked the way he stepped over passes to let them reach a better placed team mate behind him. Must be scanning constantly.
 
Ali Dia said:
He's ridiculously progressive. We've all seen those players who jog around the centre popping it back and forward with the defenders and their midfield partner, this guy takes responsibility for getting the ball forward all the time. You can see why his progression stats were so high. He's decent at stepping in and knicking the ball away too amd starting counters. Great player to have at our disposal
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To be that progressive and complete 90%ish of passes is a rare skill.
 
Is he a bit on the slower side in the running aspect? It feels like he walks/jogs around, and both Fletcher and Collyer moved twice as fast as Santos.

This isn't a big deal, but the way he passes forward will sometimes generate a turnover and we'll need to chase in midfield. I am not sure how he can deal with such situations.
 
What a player. I was at the game yesterday and kept my eyes on him for the first half and I couldn't believe how good he was. I'm really excited about him.

Took up great positions, demanded the ball, always did something with it. Defensively he is always exactly where you'd want him to be, it's remarkable. Looked like he's been at the heart of our midfield for 10 years.

From what we've seen of him so far it's almost hard to square the fact that he scored so many goals for Strasbourg, he's been really deep-lying in pre-season for us. I don't mind it. If he can take these performances into the Premier League then we've absolutely nailed another signing.

Outside of a single misplaced pass, it was the perfect performance.
 
Hope we are not reading too much into a few low paced preseason matches.

Like all our current midfield options there are question marks over his pace and general athletism.

So far so good , I like that he does not feel the need to mess around with the ball , just get and move it on(and up the pitch) quickly like all good midfielders should do.

Looking forward to seeing how he gets on when the real stuff starts.
 
Borys said:
Is he a bit on the slower side in the running aspect? It feels like he walks/jogs around, and both Fletcher and Collyer moved twice as fast as Santos.

This isn't a big deal, but the way he passes forward will sometimes generate a turnover and we'll need to chase in midfield. I am not sure how he can deal with such situations.
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Dont think so. Collyer is quite fast for a cm so wouldnt be surprised at all but didnt see Fletcher moving faster
 
Betson said:
Like all our current midfield options there are question marks over his pace and general athletism.
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What constitutes “general athleticism”? Our midfielders are certainly not Tonali or Rice like sprinters, but they duel win and have interception stats etc. at a more than good enough standard. They all also complete more than enough full 90s between them.
 
Borys said:
Is he a bit on the slower side in the running aspect? It feels like he walks/jogs around, and both Fletcher and Collyer moved twice as fast as Santos.

This isn't a big deal, but the way he passes forward will sometimes generate a turnover and we'll need to chase in midfield. I am not sure how he can deal with such situations.
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Yes, he's not particularly athletic and while he is pretty strong in duels, he really struggles to deal with midfield runners, which hurts him defensively. He is a very intelligent player, though and clever positioning can mitigate the impact of his lack of physicality somewhat. Overall, though, Santos, Mainoo and Tielemans all share the same weakness and I predict we'll look quite vulnerable in defensive transition this season without a player who is comfortable defending large spaces.
 
DWelbz19 said:
What constitutes “general athleticism”? Our midfielders are certainly not Tonali or Rice like sprinters, but they duel win and have interception stats etc. at a more than good enough standard. They all also complete more than enough full 90s between them.
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None of them are tall either , but their aerial stats are not too bad but could still be an issue defending set pieces etc. But the main glaring issue is the lack of any pace among any of them. We can't ignore that this could become a big liability in matches where we will get turned. It is certainly an area other teams will target, we will a need a plan to counter these situations.
 
Posh Red said:
So bored of reading about midfielders needing to be fast. It feels like such a non issue.
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I think it depends how you play:

If you are looking to play a possession oriented style like a Man City under Pep or a Barcelona then speed won't be a huge determining factor. The fact we play counter attack and seem to be trying to win the ball higher up and press aggressively means that if they break the press then we are hit on transition and having to play vertically chasing back as we are outnumbered, this style means you need someone with legs to get back behind the ball to make up the numbers unless you have great centre backs who can step up and read the game and snuff out danger.
 
Betson said:
Until it is an issue , when we are getting overran in matches.
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That still happens with fast midfielders. They are unlikely to catch players 10 yards in front of them attacking because those players are likely attacking players and wingers who are way faster than all but 1% of midfielders. Best they can do is get back to help out if the attackers make a bad decision and need to turn back, or a defender is able to slow them down or make them run down a blind alley

On top of that, we have times when Casemiro or Mainoo broke through the opponent's midfield and nobody was saying anything about us "overrunning" them. Because it was never based on what was actually happening
 
Posh Red said:
So bored of reading about midfielders needing to be fast. It feels like such a non issue.
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Carrick isn't setting us up to be a counter attacking team, so I don't think that we now regard pace/athleticism in a CM as a critical attribute like previous years.

The shape we have trained around and used in the games so far in pre season have minimal spaces between the defence, midfield and attack when the opposition have the ball, which limits passing lanes available and possible counter attacks.

The only issue is if we are losing in a game with 10 minutes left, whether we abandon said shape, which then exposes the lack of pace in CM.
 
GDaly95 said:
What a player. I was at the game yesterday and kept my eyes on him for the first half and I couldn't believe how good he was. I'm really excited about him.

Took up great positions, demanded the ball, always did something with it. Defensively he is always exactly where you'd want him to be, it's remarkable. Looked like he's been at the heart of our midfield for 10 years.

From what we've seen of him so far it's almost hard to square the fact that he scored so many goals for Strasbourg, he's been really deep-lying in pre-season for us. I don't mind it. If he can take these performances into the Premier League then we've absolutely nailed another signing.

Outside of a single misplaced pass, it was the perfect performance.
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So good to hear! Early days but very promising. It is nice and comforting when you get these indications that the guys working with player recruitment have their heads properly screwed on.
 
pascell said:
Carrick isn't setting us up to be a counter attacking team, so I don't think that we now regard pace/athleticism in a CM as a critical attribute like previous years.

The shape we have trained around and used in the games so far in pre season have minimal spaces between the defence, midfield and attack when the opposition have the ball, which limits passing lanes available and possible counter attacks.

The only issue is if we are losing in a game with 10 minutes left, whether we abandon said shape, which then exposes the lack of pace in CM.
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Yeah, even though on the transition, we look rapid, something that is good to see.

Although Santos has been good so far in pre season, we cannot rely on him being the only midfielder in that mould, we need another like him, a bit more physicality?
 
Betson said:
Until it is an issue , when we are getting overran in matches.
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You don't get overran in matches because of a lack of speed, its a lack of structure and help from the players around you. You can only do so much as a single player.
 
Overall Santos has been comfortably our best player during preseason IMO. Mount was up there with him (perhaps even slightly ahead) for the first three games, but then against PSG he had the poor start and injury.

I think Santos did have a quiet period in the middle of the first half of this match though, as well as for the 20 minutes he played in the second half against PSG. Both times were when the opposition were getting on top for a while, so I'm hoping that's not a trend. When the opposition is getting on top is almost when you need your DM to be most involved. Just something I'll be watching in the future. Other than that though he's been great.

Somebody above compared him to Carrick, and yeah there's definitely similarities on the ball. Carrick in the latter part of his career anyway; in his earlier days he tended to play second-fiddle to Scholes when it came to moving the ball forward. Santos hasn't quite shown the longer-range passes that Carrick could make though, so it'll be interesting to see if that will come.
 
mctrials23 said:
You don't get overran in matches because of a lack of speed, its a lack of structure and help from the players around you. You can only do so much as a single player.
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But that's our problem, isn't it? Looking at midfield AND defence, we have one player that can be labeled as "athletic" - Dalot. The remaining athletic players are our wingers. But if we lose the ball and are in defensive transition, clearly any midfield setup will struggle with runners.

I think if we need to prioritise a left back that can go up and down the pitch all game to mitigate this risk of "slow" midfield.
 
Betson said:
Until it is an issue , when we are getting overran in matches.
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This wouldn’t be an issue if the structure is correct. Like when we beat city in the FA cup final and we had every man behind the ball defending and they couldn’t break through us. Or another option is controlling possession and keeping hold of the ball… then we won’t be over ran
 
I haven't been able to catch the preseason matches but its nice to see the reviews on his passing and in possession. How has he been on the defensive side?
 
Sea-Cow said:
I haven't been able to catch the preseason matches but its nice to see the reviews on his passing and in possession. How has he been on the defensive side?
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I would describe him as present and snappy. Present in that he's always basically where you expect him to be, well positioned and well focused. He is also snappy and aggressive in interception and tackling. He is not a sprinter or someone that will easily catch a winger in a sprint from the half way line, but generally he won't need to be.
 
AngeloHenriquez said:
I think it depends how you play:

If you are looking to play a possession oriented style like a Man City under Pep or a Barcelona then speed won't be a huge determining factor. The fact we play counter attack and seem to be trying to win the ball higher up and press aggressively means that if they break the press then we are hit on transition and having to play vertically chasing back as we are outnumbered, this style means you need someone with legs to get back behind the ball to make up the numbers unless you have great centre backs who can step up and read the game and snuff out danger.
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We don’t play counter attack?

We can counter attack well, but one of the biggest changes under Carrick has been actively trying to build through midfield with a greater emphasis on closer range passing interplay, and it’s clear from the profile of the CMs we’ve targeted this summer that Carrick wants to evolve to a more possession based approach.
 
Betson said:
Until it is an issue , when we are getting overran in matches.
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I hate this argument It's such none sense. We literally just watched a midfield of Rodri, Fabian Ruiz and Dani Olmo win the world cup absolutely destroying Frances midfield on the way there. We also saw a midfield of Paredes, Enzo and Macallister beat a midfield of Bellingham, Rice and Anderson in the other semi final, wonder how Argentinas midfield never got overran once in that game.
 
MadDogg said:
Overall Santos has been comfortably our best player during preseason IMO. Mount was up there with him (perhaps even slightly ahead) for the first three games, but then against PSG he had the poor start and injury.

I think Santos did have a quiet period in the middle of the first half of this match though, as well as for the 20 minutes he played in the second half against PSG. Both times were when the opposition were getting on top for a while, so I'm hoping that's not a trend. When the opposition is getting on top is almost when you need your DM to be most involved. Just something I'll be watching in the future. Other than that though he's been great.

Somebody above compared him to Carrick, and yeah there's definitely similarities on the ball. Carrick in the latter part of his career anyway; in his earlier days he tended to play second-fiddle to Scholes when it came to moving the ball forward. Santos hasn't quite shown the longer-range passes that Carrick could make though, so it'll be interesting to see if that will come.
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I think it's mostly down to our passive out of possession tendency, which is to cede the ball, get into shape/mid-block and just go from there. When that happens, all of our players don't look 'good' because there's not much of a structure other than get behind the ball. Both Leeds (start 1st half) and PSG (start of 2nd half) took control of the ball at periods during the game and we just didn't respond as a team. I don't think Santos is going to single handedly turn those tides unless there's some top down instructions. I don't like it and it's been a big issue of ours for many years so whilst it's not necessarily Carrick's fault, he needs to find a better solution.

I understand not going all out press and needing to look after our soft underbelly/low athleticism but there should be a middle ground between that and what we're doing now. I'd want more of a counter press to regain the ball as opposed to following the opponent's flow where we let them have the ball for 5+ min periods.
 
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Lu Tze said:
I would describe him as present and snappy. Present in that he's always basically where you expect him to be, well positioned and well focused. He is also snappy and aggressive in interception and tackling. He is not a sprinter or someone that will easily catch a winger in a sprint from the half way line, but generally he won't need to be.
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I'm not sure how to feel about this optimism! That sounds excellent.
 
He looks like our best midfielder currently by a distance.
 
Hammondo said:
He looks like our best midfielder currently by a distance.
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Given that we haven’t seen Mainoo yet, this is a fair statement. But if you take into account how Kobbie ended last season for us the claim is surreal.
 
Young plenty of promise not ready yet to go a whole season anchoring this team and hopefully he won't be asked too
 
Looked like his first preseason game. Often positioned himself wrongly, got dribbled past many times and could hardly make a clean tackle.

Let's see what's next for him but he does seem to be a bit on the slow side.
 
Yeah him and Tielemans together in the midfield is not a great idea huh? They need a Tchouameni next to them.
 
A lot more willing to do the dirty work than i originally thought, he looks like he'll get booked alot though.
 
Struggled a bit today. Seems to be more comfortable with hard workers like Mount and Fletcher alongside him. Definitely a big red flag about pairing him with Tielemans.

Although it has to be said that any midfield will struggle when Bruno plays as badly as he has in preseason. No coincidence that we’ve been at our best this summer when he’s not on the pitch. So I’m hoping that the likes of Santos and Tielemans will both kick up a gear when Bruno starts to get his shit together.
 
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