Chelsea are reportedly giving serious consideration to recalling Andrey Santos from his loan spell at Nottingham Forest.
Given his exploits at youth level with Brazil and having already earned a senior cap for his country, Santos has been tipped to become a key player over the next decade.
The 19-year-old was subsequently provided with regular game time for Chelsea during pre-season, accumulating as many as 195 minutes during the tour of the United States.
Although the prospect failed to feature in Chelsea's opening matches of the campaign, a loan switch to Nottingham Forest was expected to lead to action on a weekly basis.
Instead, Santos's spell at the City Ground has been a disaster from an individual perspective, as he has made just one seven-minute substitute outing in the Premier League when Forest were already 3-0 down to Liverpool.
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Preceding that, he had played 90 minutes during an EFL Cup defeat to Burnley on August 30, but Forest boss Steve Cooper is blessed with a range of options for his engine room.
When quizzed at press conferences, Cooper has reiterated that Santos had made an impact in training, hinting that his preference for the present time was to play other players.
However, according to the Evening Standard, he may only have the opportunity to do so until the end of the calendar year.
The report says that Chelsea are ready to activate the break clause that is present in Santos's contract, presumably to find him another temporary home.
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Should that be the case, it would need to be at an English club with Chelsea having already filled up their allocation of spots for foreign loans for 2023-24.
Theoretically, that would leave Chelsea with an issue of whether to risk another Premier League loan at a lower-end team or target one of the top Championship clubs.
Despite his glowing reputation, Santos - who cost in the region of £16m when arriving from Vasco da Gama - has barely played any top-flight football in his career.
Just 424 minutes were accumulated in Brasileiro Serie A earlier this year, with the bulk of his game with Vasco da Gama coming in their promotion campaign from the second tier in 2022.
Darren Plant
