£18m starlet finally granted work permit to play for Chelsea

Andrey Santos is granted the work permit to play for the Chelsea first-team next season onward

As per the Evening Standard, young Chelsea midfielder Andrey Santos has been granted the work permit which means he can now play for the Blues first-team.

Chelsea signed Santos from Brazilian side Vasco da Gama for £18m. He chose the Blues over Newcastle United in the January transfer window.

The midfielder missed a chance to get the work permit in February that could have enabled him to play a part in the second half of last season.

It is good that the 19-year-old, who is training with the Chelsea first-team now, would be eligible to take part in next season onwards under Mauricio Pochettino. Santos is a versatile midfield player who can play as a central midfielder and an attacking midfielder.

He is good on the ball, can create chances and is a box-to-box player. Although there might be a temptation to send him out on loan this summer, Chelsea are short on midfield options after letting go of the few in the past few days.

They haven’t signed anyone to bolster that department yet. Moises Caicedo is the leading target but one addition may not mean that everything is sorted.

So, it would make a lot of sense to keep Santos here and hope that he develops during this pre-season and become a regular part of the playing squad.

Pochettino is one of the best when it comes to training young talents and harnessing their potential. The young Brazilian midfielder has the talent and profile to do well at Stamford Bridge.

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Can he exercise that talent to show the world what he is capable of? We would genuinely hope so. At least, he deserves a chance before final judgements are passed. We paid a pretty big sum for a player his age, so of course the decision-makers in SW6 and the club’s scouts saw something special in him. We can’t wait to finally see it in a Chelsea shirt.