Andrey Santos has responded to rumours that he will be leaving to join Barcelona on Instagram.
The player joined up with the Blues for the first time earlier in the week after securing a Visa successfully to allow him into the country and has been with Mauricio Pochettino's squad. Having signed in January for around £12million ($15.4million), Santos was later sent back to Vasco de Gama when his initial Visa application was declined.
At 19, Santos is seen as a first team player already and will have the chance to impress Pochettino and his squad during pre-season training. He is expected to be part of the touring group to America which leaves next week but questions still remain.
Chelsea have already lost five midfielders from their squad since Santos joined over the winter and the position now looks extremely bare with Conor Gallagher and Enzo Fernandez the only remaining senior players in the role. Lewis Hall, Ian Maatsen and Carney Chukwuemeka along with Cesare Casadei can all play in midfield but are young and inexperienced.
Santos is in the same camp and is yet to have his first taste of European football, either. His physique and dominating qualities on show for the Brazil Under-20s side, in which he captains, has made him an early candidate to be involved heavily in the 2023/24 campaign, though.
However, last week it emerged from Portugal that Porto were keen on offering a steady introduction to life in a new continent with a loan being discussed for the player. It is said that they were pushing the deal hard but Chelsea remained firm on giving him a chance to impress first.
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Now, though, Barcelona have come onto the scene and it is said once more from Portugal that the Catalan giants had been keen to discuss the possibility of signing Santos. Xavi's men were one of many teams in the race to buy Santos in the first place and reportedly swooped to try and snap him up again this summer.
With former Chelsea midfielder Deco as part of potential negotiations, Barcelona were ready to push for Santos. However, Fabrizio Romano has come out to squash those rumours. "Chelsea are currently NOT negotiating with any club for Andrey Santos," he wrote.
"Despite lot of interest from many clubs in Europe, there are no concrete talks or advanced negotiations at this stage. Pochettino wants to see him in pre season. Directors believe he’s the future."
Santos himself posted a timely message on Instagram as the reports surfaced. Alongside a picture of him training at Cobham, Santos wrote simply: "[On emoji, white heart emoji]" with many taking it to be a statement of his intent to remain at Stamford Bridge.
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