Newcastle United look set to miss out on Brazil youngster Andrey Santos, with Chelsea in pole position to sign the young midfielder. However, reports in the Brazilian media have shone a light on the background checks the Magpies are carrying out ahead of any transfer dealings.
Eddie Howe's side were first linked with the 'Brazilian Busquets' back in September earlier this year. Despite reports linking him with a move to St. James' Park, the Under-20 international signed a new five-year deal with Vasco da Gama, who were then playing in the second tier of the Brazilian football pyramid.
Santos has been a standout performer for Vasco de Gama, who won promotion back to the top flight earlier this year. Reports earlier this week claim Chelsea are in pole position to land the youngster, but fresh claims in South America show the Magpies are serious when it comes to unearthing the right characters.
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Atenção Vascaínos’ journalist Emerson Rocha claims the Magpies touched base with Vaco de Gama and Brazil icon Juninho Pernambucano for more information on the youngster. Juninho, who played for the Brazilian club on three occasions, won seven back-to-back titles with Lyon and the Confederations Cup with Brazil in 2005.
The former attacking midfielder was most recently the sporting director at Lyon and spoke with the Magpies earlier this year, prior to Vasco de Gama's promotion in November. There are no specific time scale on the talks, but Rocha tweeted: "Before the chance to join Chelsea, other clubs showed interest in Andrey Santos. The 1st was Newcastle. To find out details, the English called Juninho-PE. The idol also spoke directly to Andrey and asked to stay until access to Série A, at least."
Sporting director, Paulo Bracks admitted that Santos asked to stay with the club earlier this year, speaking to ESPN Brazil, he said: "The whole world wants Andrey, but he's from Vasco, he has a contract with us, a strong contract, he should go to a South American Under-20 and I can't guarantee what will happen to him.
"[I want him to] stay with us this year, in this Serie A project of ours, but he is an athlete who, on the market shelf, is being very targeted. For that, we work on other assets of the club, those that are already here, those that will come out of the Under-20s and the reinforcements that we are going to bring. For Vasco, [it's important] to always have valued athletes within the market and who deliver us both on and off the field."
Howe has already spoken at length about recruiting the right characters for Newcastle United, which has so far paid dividends after their impressive start to the season. The South American market is an area that the likes of Real Madrid, Manchester City and Chelsea have all dominated in recent years and early signs suggest the Magpies are looking in the same area.
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