Chelsea sporting director meets French counterpart to decide Brazil starlet’s future | OneFootball

This week’s Chelsea Confidential has arrived a little late from the Kieran Gill of the Daily Mail, but it’s a cracker as ever.

First up is an update on a player that Chelsea fans just can’t wait to see in action – Andrey Santos. After a ridiculously successful 18 months on loan with sister club Strasbourg, the Brazilian has proved himself more than ready for a shot at our first team, and the hopes were that we could see him as soon as June, in the Club World Cup.

But Gill says that “sources” have told him that nothing is decided about Santos’ future. Rumours about a sale are surely wide of the mark, and loaning him out again seems pointless.

It seems impossible he is anywhere other than Stamford Bridge next season – but we should remember how many decisions have been made by these sporting directors which seemed impossible at the time. This time a year ago we were probably 80% sure Santos would be in our squad for this season, and he ended up gone. So it’s only correct to remind ourselves that the prevailing mood online won’t always predict the actions of Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley.

Chelsea owner and sporting director in town to prepare awkward European transition

Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart with Behdad Eghbali.

There are a couple of other interesting notes in there about the Alsatians – Behdad Eghbali was in town last weekend and had meeting with some ultras who have been pushing back against BlueCo ownership. Laurence Stewart was also apparently there at the end of March to watch the win over Lyon and meet his counterpart at Strasbourg.

A focus of all this is likely to be what happens if Strasbourg and Chelsea end up in the same European competition next season – groundwork is already being laid for that. How precisely it affects the French side – and Santos – we will have to see.