Midfielder with great scoring rate claims he’s “found my place in Europe” after strong start to season

Andrey Santos had something of a rocky start to life as a Chelsea player, but things are now moving in the right direction, and he took the opportunity of the international break to take a look back at his last 12 months and what went down.

There was a lot of excitement to see Santos in the Premier League when he moved to Nottingham Forest on loan last season, but he barely saw the pitch. His mid-season switch to Strasbourg worked out much better, and he’s back with the French team again this year, with 4 goals in 17 appearances already for the Alsatians.

“I was in very good physical shape. I did pre-season and did well, but unfortunately I wasn’t going to get as many minutes,” Santos said of last summer in quotes picked up by the Nottingham Post.

“I decided to leave to play for Nottingham Forest and unfortunately it didn’t go as I expected. I was always doing well, training, working to my potential, but unfortunately I didn’t get the opportunity. I’m very happy to have returned to Chelsea and, now at Strasbourg, to have found my best performance, to have found my place in Europe, and to have shown my football to the whole of Europe.”

Good progress – but talent needs a plan

Chelsea’s long term plan for Santos isn’t quite clear yet – he looks too good and with too much potential to just be an asset we develop on loan and then sell on.

But he’s already been on the books for almost 2 years now, and will want to see a pathway to first team action emerging. As it stands, he was sent away this summer without ever really seeming to get a look in.

If he keeps doing well in Ligue 1 this season, surely next year he gets a chance as a squad player at Stamford Bridge.