Chelsea January signing Andrey Santos has rejoined his former club Vasco Da Gama on loan after failing to secure UK work permit.
Chelsea completed the signing of the 18-year-old midfielder in the January transfer window as the Blues’ third signing in the month.
Before the arrival of Andrey Santos, the Blues have already completed the signing of David Datro Fofana from Molde and Benoit Badiashile from Monaco in January.
The former Vasco Da Gama youngster arrived at Stamford Bridge in the wave of Todd Boehly’s £325m spending spree in the January transfer window.
Before joining Chelsea, Andrey Santos played 38 matches for Vasco Da Gama, scoring 8 goals. He has been tipped as one of the best box-to-box midfield prospects.
Santos was eager to be a part of the Blues’ new era under Todd Boehly, with the club simmering and bubbling with several youngsters.
After signing a five-and-a-half-year contract following a 17.5million move to the club, the Blues hit a bottleneck in his transfer.
They were unable to secure his work permit, freezing him out from playing for the club after the completion of the deal.
This means Andrey Santos was not set to feature for the club since documents granting his permission to work in England could not be secured.
Chelsea had to find a solution to the problem of leaving the youngster permanently on the bench till the work permit is sorted out.
Part of the options available for the club was to loan him to his former club, where he could have enough playing time while working to secure his work permit in England.
Taking to the club’s social media handle, Chelsea confirmed the decision to send Andrey back to his former club on loan until the work permit is secured.
According to PA news agency, Andrey Santos failed to hit the threshold number of points for his work permit to be granted by a very slim margin of one point.
Instead of missing games and not being able to feature for the club in a number of matches, Chelsea now opts to loan him to his former club.
Santos will reportedly return to the Blues’ squad in the summer ahead of the club’s anticipated US tour.
Andrey Santos featured for Brazil U-20 in the South American U20 Championship. He helped the team win the trophy and scored in the final against Uruguay.
Santos emerged as the highest goal-scorer in the tournament, netting six times to win the Golden Boot.
Before joining Chelsea, Andrey Santos helped his former club gain promotion to Brazil’s top-flight in 2021.
Chelsea beat off the competition from other Premier League clubs to land the 18-year-old promising youngster in January.
