Steve Cooper didn’t want to bring midfielder to Nottingham Forest, he could leave in January

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Reputable journalist Matt Law has claimed that Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper didn’t want Andrey Santos. There is a real possibility that the 19-year-old now head back to Chelsea in January.

The Reds took the player on a season-long loan during the summer. However, Santos has fallen down the Forest pecking order after the signings of Ibrahim Sangare and Nicolas Dominguez on transfer deadline day.

The two midfielders have quickly established themselves as regulars in Cooper’s team. That has shunted Santos down the pecking order and Fabrizio Romano has seemingly condemned Forest previously for taking him on loan.

Cooper didn’t want Santos at Forest

The Reds don’t look as though they’re going to see the best of this particular player. It seems as though Forest signed Santos in case they didn’t manage to do deals for their top targets.

Now, Daily Telegraph journalist Matt Law has given some intriguing information about the deal that took Santos to Forest during the summer transfer window.

Law told the London is Blue podcast: “This is turning out to be a really bad loan. This I’ve got to say always looked like a bad loan. They sent him to the one club in the Premier League with more players than Chelsea, with lots of midfielders. It’s become very clear over time that he wasn’t a Steve Cooper pick.

“Cooper clearly wants to go in a different direction, it feels very much like the owners at Forest did that deal with Chelsea. That again should have been a red flag that the owner was doing the deal with them rather than the manager. He’s going to have to come back and go somewhere else because it’s just proving pointless.

“I’m led to believe that there have been conversations between Forest and Chelsea in the last couple of weeks to try and clear up why he’s not been playing. Forest are slightly apologetic about it and agrees with the fact that if Chelsea want to bring him back they won’t stand in his way. It’s been a bonkers loan and it didn’t look like it was going to work on any level.

Santos deserves to play somewhere

As a talented player and one who has been tipped for big things, it’s doing nobody any favours that Santos is sat in the Forest stands. As a result, there seems like only one solution here.

The 19-year-old is the captain of the Brazil under-23 team and with the Olympics on the horizon, he will want to be playing regular football.

Santos did well in pre-season for Chelsea. He was a man showcasing fine form as they won the pre-season Premier League Cup tournament that took place in the United States.

It was probably his form in those games that prompted Forest to take a chance on Santos. However, the move has proved a disaster and a return to Chelsea looks set to be on the cards.