Less than a week after agreeing to ship Brazilian midfielder Andrey Santos to Manchester United, Chelsea might be angling to snatch the next guy off United’s wish list. According to Brazilian outlet FogãoNET, the Blues have made contact with Botafogo over a deal for midfielder Danilo Santos, who made Brazil’s World Cup squad and was reportedly on United’s radar.
That’s the kind of move that turns a rival transfer into a five-dimensional chess match. United just signed Andrey Santos from Chelsea for something in the ballpark of £50 million. Now Chelsea could go get the other Santos — Danilo — who plays the same position and wears the same national team colors, just at a different club.
Xabi Alonso’s First Summer at Stamford Bridge
Danilo Santos isn’t the only name on Chelsea’s list. New manager Xabi Alonso is also pushing for Porto goalkeeper Diogo Costa. TSF in Portugal says Porto is ‘not interested in letting the goalkeeper leave,’ but the report adds that Chelsea could trigger his €60 million release clause. The Blues have been watching Costa since before the World Cup, and his showing in Qatar only made them more serious about it.
Chelsea ended last season 10th in the Premier League. They sacked Enzo Maresca and Liam Rosenior. They have no European soccer this season, which might help in the league standings but doesn’t exactly help when you’re trying to convince players to sign. Still, the club has brought in five new faces already: Geovany Quenda, Denner, Dastan Satpaev, Emmanuel Emegha, and Marco Palestra.
Only Marc Cucurella has left among the core players so far.
Nicky Butt Isn’t Sold on Andrey Santos to United
Meanwhile, former Manchester United midfielder Nicky Butt isn’t exactly thrilled about the Andrey Santos deal. He told Paddy Power that paying around £50 million for a player who made just 13 starts last season for a team that finished 10th feels like buying potential over production.
“If he’s brought in at £25-30 million you could understand it,” Butt said. “But he’s not being signed for £50m to just be sat on the bench, he has to be a starter. I’ve seen him play a few times but nothing stands out that makes you go, ‘wow, he’s got great ability on the ball or he’s a powerhouse.’”
Butt added that he hopes he’s wrong, but the whole thing feels strange to him. “This lad’s barely played 10 games. It’s a strange one, it’s not one I’m jumping around going, ‘what a signing, I’m really happy with it.’”
United hasn’t commented on the criticism. Chelsea hasn’t confirmed interest in Danilo Santos or Diogo Costa either. But with a week of July already gone, the summer window is clearly just getting weird.
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