Andrey Santos deal cost Chelsea ‘wonderful’ €45m signing - Romano
Robin Bairner
- 25 Sept 2023 08:40 BST
- 3 min read
Chelsea missed out on signing Bradley Barcola this summer because of a hitch with Andrey Santos, Fabrizio Romano has revealed.
Instead of moving to the Blues, Barcola instead left Lyon for PSG in a deal worth €45 million.
The winger made his first start for the Ligue 1 champions on Sunday as they demolished Marseille 4-0 at home, leaving head coach Luis Enrique to gush over the player.
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“He’s top. I love his skills. It’s wonderful to coach a player like that,” the Spaniard said after the success in Le Classique.
Barcola, though, was involved in a tug-of-war between PSG and Chelsea this summer, and for a long period it appeared that the Premier League side would win. Lyon preferred to sell the player to a foreign club rather than a direct rival.
Romano has revealed why Barcola wound up in the French capital and did not cross the English Channel to hook up with Mauricio Pochettino’s squad.
He claims that a deal was “never close” because of Andrey Santos. Lyon wanted the Chelsea player to join them on loan as part of the deal but the Blues had already agreed for the young Brazilian to move to Nottingham Forest.
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Andrey Santos another transfer error
Pushing the teenager to their Premier League rivals, though, is already beginning to look like another transfer error from Chelsea’s part.
The 19-year-old has featured on the bench just once in four possible Premier League matches for Forest and has yet to play a single minute of football.
Indeed, this is an area where Steve Cooper’s side look strong, with Ibrahim Sangare a big-money signing in the summer from PSV their star player in that sector. With an experienced Premier League player like Cheikhou Kouyate unable to get minutes against Manchester City, the prospect of Andrey Santos breaking into the team to get the type of experience Chelsea might have wished looks slim.
