LATEST; Santos extensive move last summer

It was a loan move which did not work for any of the parties involved with Andrey Santos‘ minutes extremely limited under Steve Cooper.

Santos was a player who made the big move to England with Chelsea last summer in a deal reportedly worth £18m.

Clearly, the Blues were investing in the player’s potential with the young Brazilian midfielder arriving from his homeland having impressed with Vasco de Gama.

Santos has recently been speaking with Premier League Brasil, where he has looked back on his move to England.

” It was a bit of a surprise (to have left on loan), but I understand that it is part of the process. It is very difficult for a young person who comes from Brazil to play abroad, especially in the Premier League,” he said.

“There’s no way we can predict what’s going to happen. But I was always well, willing to help and making a difference in training, so much so that the coach at the time, Steve Cooper, was praising me a lot in training, but unfortunately he didn’t give me any opportunities. I was at my peak both physically and technically,” he added when discussing his time at Forest.

Only one of Santos’ two appearances for Forest actually came in the Premier League after he was handed a seven-minute cameo appearance in the 3-0 defeat to Liverpool.

His other opportunity came in the Carabao Cup where he played the full 90 in another defeat to Burnley.

Despite not offering the Brazilian the minutes, Cooper admitted he had been impressed with what he had saw from the youngster.

“Of course everyone would have liked Andrey to play more. He is a really good young player, but there isn’t a load of players his age who are playing regularly in the Premier League,” Cooper told the media back in December.

“It is the sort of situation where if he was our player, he would be in the perfect situation of being in and around the first-team, looking to involve him and giving him some exposure when you can, but knowing you are developing him and getting him ready.”