Nottingham Forest have signed Chelsea midfielder Andrey Santos on a season-long loan deal.
Throughout pre-season, a number of prospects attempted to impress Blues head coach Mauricio Pochettino before more established names were brought through the door.
That included Santos who was working with Chelsea for the first time having been allowed to return to Vasco Da Gama on loan upon failing to gain a work permit in January.
Santos was a regular during Chelsea's summer schedule in the USA, accumulating 195 minutes of football across four friendlies, and the 19-year-old made a positive impact in those matches.
However, when Santos did not feature among the replacements for the second Premier League fixture of the season against West Ham United last weekend, it became apparent that his short-term future would be away from Stamford Bridge.
Making it official ✍️
— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) August 25, 2023
😁 @04Andrey pic.twitter.com/tlvjGae74C
Forest have now confirmed that they have won the race to sign the Brazil international for the remainder of the 2023-24 campaign.
Speaking on completing a move to the City Ground, Santos told Forest's official website: "I am very happy and excited to be here. I know that Forest is a big club, they play good football and they have good players, which is important for me.
"It has always been my dream to play in the Premier League and I can't wait to enjoy playing."
Santos becomes the fourth Brazilian player to sign for Forest since their return to the Premier League last year, joining Felipe and Danilo in the current squad with Gustavo Scarpa having gone on loan to Olympiacos.
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From Chelsea's perspective, they wanted to find a place for Santos to continue his development with the bulk of his game time in Brazil coming in the second flight, where he helped Vasco Da Gama win promotion.
Nevertheless, despite only having 424 minutes of Brasileiro experience, he has already earned a debut with Brazil, playing 65 minutes of a friendly against Morocco in March.
With the recent acquisitions of Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia, Pochettino is stocked with options in the centre of the pitch, with Enzo Fernandez, Conor Gallagher and Lesley Ugochukwu also pushing for regular starts.
Carney Chukwuemeka is regarded as the most attacking option of those six, but the Englishman will be sidelined until at least October after knee surgery.
Darren Plant
